A former Senate Leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume yesterday commended the Federal Government’s move to begin work on over 38-year old abandoned Biu Dam project in Borno State.
The lawmaker, who spoke to newsmen in Abuja, said he got the hint when he visited the the Minister of Water Resources, Mr. Suleiman Adamu.
He said that the minister told him that work would resume on the project in 2020, adding that it was already captured in the 2020 national budget.
The former Senate Leader said the development would help solve the problem of water scarcity faced by residents in Biu and surrounding communities.
He said although the state government had paid its share of the fund for the dam, the Federal Government over the years failed to meet up its part of the funding for continuation of the project.
Ndume said: “It is cheering to hear that the Biu Dam, a project that was awarded over 38 years ago but abandoned over the years, has been captured in the 2020 budget of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.
“The first phase of the project was awarded to LeeFakino and re-awarded to Nalando Company recently but no work is going on there.
“With this assurance from the minister, when completed, the dam will service residents who have over the years suffered immensely for lack of water.
“Biu, an agrarian community and other neighbouring communities have been subjected to untold hardship due to the continued abandonment of the dam project in spite of the huge socio-economic opportunities it will provide.
“The dam when completed will not only help in tackling perennial water shortage in the area but provide water for irrigation for the people, whose major occupation is farming,” he said.
Ndume had earlier called on the Federal Government to complete the Biu Dam project, awarded over 38 years ago, to address water scarcity in the area.
He said that lack of access to water in the area had affected over 200,000 people thereby crippling socio-economic activities.