R17m invested to boost water supplies in the east and south |30 May 2015

R17 million has been invested in various ongoing water projects in the east and south of Mahé to ensure proper distribution in the various areas not yet connected to treated water.
Once the projects are completed by the end of this year some 750 plots will have access to treated water.

Making sure most of the households in Seychelles have potable water has always been the concern of the government. And to help cater for the growing needs, the Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) is investing some R200 million to enhance the islands’ capacity to stock and distribute water.

The Minister for Environment, Energy and Climate change, Didier Dogley, accompanied by Philip Morin, the chief executive of PUC, yesterday visited four areas in the east of Mahé where work has already started.

“This project was approved two years ago and we had to prepare for it to happen. We needed to collect water and treat it from Mare aux Cochons, L’Islette River, Grand Anse and Caiman River. Our plan all over Mahé is to collect as much water from our streams and rivers and use less desalinated water as a back up when there is drought. We are not supplying desalinated water to households if we still have water in our rivers. With the change in weather, last year, the use of desalinated water was reduced,” noted Mr Morin.

Four contractors are working on the sites – D’Offay Estate, Green Estate, Capucins, Sawa Sawa farm, Pointe au Sel, St Roch -- in order for the projects to be completed by the end of the year.
Minister Dogley stated that “currently 23,000 households and businesses are being supplied with treated water which represents 95% of our population.

“Our goal is to try to achieve 99%. There will always be some households that will not get access to the regular distribution and other arrangements such as community water system will be introduced to help them get treated water,” the minister said.

The minister also noted that this year the weather has been kind enough and we keep having rains during the non-rainy season.
“The La Gogue Dam is 91% full right now and we have storage of water for two months. This year, we hope we will not have severe water restrictions and we are urging the citizens not to waste water,” Minister Dogley said.

The minister, accompanied by the Member of the National Assembly for Au Cap, Muriel Marie, district administrator Doris Esther and the engineers from PUC, visited all the places where they were installing pumps and building reservoirs.

After the visit, Minister Dogley showed his satisfaction in these terms: “I am very happy with the work PUC is doing. The government pays special attention to all the basic necessities and we are doing our best to supply water to all. The project of taking water from the north to the south has been completed by PUC and now we will make sure a maximum number of houses have access to treated water. It is a huge undertaking from PUC as the roads and grounds where the projects are happening are not easy. There were already complaints from some households in the east and with these projects their sufferings will disappear.”

Minister Dogley mentioned that he and his team will keep visiting different parts of Seychelles with the PUC team so that the population knows of the development that is happening.
Soon the minister will head to Praslin to oversee projects going on there.
The accompanying photos show the minister and his delegation during the visit.