Addis Ababa, March 29, 2012 (Addis Ababa) -The Ministry of Water and Energy State Minister said his Ministry is engaged in undertaking various potable water development projects at a cost of 2.5 billion Birr in different parts of the country. In an exclusive interview with ENA here on Thursday, the State Minister, Kebede Gerba said close to 8,580 water projects are being constructed in various parts of the country. He said medium and small-scale water wells, hand-dug wells, spring development are among the projects being carried out currently. Expansion and rehabilitation of existing water facilities are also included in the projects. The projects are expected to enable seven million people to get access to water up on their completion at the end of this year. Work on the construction of close to 1,240 of the stated number of water project facilities has been finalized in the past six months while the remaining projects are expected to be completed by the end of this year. According to Kebede, up on finalization of the construction of all the projects, access to water will increase to 80 percent from existing 71.3 percent. The coverage in urban areas will also grow to 95.5 percent from 92.5 percent at present. The Minister said African Development Bank (AfDB) and International Development Association (IDA) are among the biggest stake holders that provide financial assistance to the construction of water projects. IDA and AfDB have covered over 1.8 billion and over 465.9 million Birr of the stated amount of capital earmarked for undertaking the projects respectively. According the State Minister, over 17,300 water projects project were constructed and renovated in the previous Ethiopian budget year. The projects have enabled 5.4 million people to get access to clean water. However, he said, the stated number of beneficiaries accounted for only 77 percent of the target, which was seven million people. According to the minister, the limitation of capacity on the part of local contractors who were involved in the construction of the projects and soaring cost of construction materials are among the major factors for failing to achieve the set target.

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