By Alick Sichali
BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-An assessment has revealed that over one million people now have access to clean and portable water through the borehole rehabilitation program which Pacific Limited is carrying-out nationwide.
The grouping company which embarked on repairing non-functional boreholes in 2015 as part of its corporate social responsibility has now repaired boreholes in most of the country’s constituencies.
Speaking in an interview with the company’s founder, Faizal Aboo said the project is aimed at complementing government efforts in making access to clean and portable water easy amongst the citizenry.
According to Aboo, water is a fundamental need amongst human beings hence the company rolling out the project in all corners of the country.
He said; “As your aware that statistics from NSO it clearly shows that large portion of our population leaves in rural areas and in the rural areas most of the people don’t have tapped water, the main source of drinking water comes from boreholes,”
“We fill that to put in a new borehole is an expensive exercise and it will a long shot for government to do, so we want to complement government efforts by rehabilitating non-functional boreholes in all the constituencies”.
One of the beneficiaries, Mary Bandawe residing in Ntcheu North East constituency dubbed the project as a life-saving project.
Bandawe said people have had high risk of contracting waterborne diseases as they where using water from unsafe sources and surrounding river’s where their livestock’s directly quench first from.
“For the past 6 years, life has been tough in our area. We have been using water from a river that surrounds the area. As a result, we have been recording more cases of waterborne diseases. I should commend Pacific Limited for the life-saving project,” Bandawe said.
According to Bandawe as compared to the past, she will not walk long distances in search of water as the boreholes are just 1 hour away to her house.
“Boreholes are constructed within the reach of so many people. It will only take minutes or hours for us to fetch clean and safe water, meaning we will have more time with our families and also be more productive,” added Bandawe
An assessment carried out by the firm indicates that the country has about 20, 000 non-functional boreholes.
Pacific eyes 2028 to complete rehabilitation of all dead boreholes.
To date the firm has managed to maintain boreholes in constituencies like Ntcheu Bwanje North, Ntcheu Central, Lilongwe North East, Zomba Ntonya, Kasungu East, Dowa Central, Kasungu South, Lilongwe Mapuyu North, Lilongwe Mapuyu South, Salima Central, Nkhotakota North, Kasungu North North and Mzimba North East.
