NEWS:

20 Apr, 2016


The newly installed water pump
Just as most urban and rural areas are being affected by access to safe water, this has not spared LUANAR to the extent that some members of staff and students could not access safe water for more than 2 days. This has forced the LUANAR community to access water from unsafe and unsecure sources. This has further put a burden on students and women to access water from distant places. Students spend long hours in queues to fetch water and later miss classes. Due to power interruptions and increase population in Lilongwe city, the university campus has further been facing water related challenges that also affected teaching and learning among others.

There is now a ray of hope as the Royal Norwegian government is currently supporting LUANAR’s water improvement project amounting to USD 319,800. The Programmes Advisory Committee appointed Central Regions Water Board to manage the water supply improvement project. Through a rigorous assessment of bidding documents involving CRWB, LUANAR and the Department of Buildings, the project was awarded to SAWA Group as the projects contractor after approvals from the Office of Director for Public Procurement.

According to the Projects Site Engineer, Caroline Kawala, the water currently supplied to Bunda is obstructed from Kamuzu Dam II at Malingunde. The water is transmitted to 460 m3 concrete tank which supplies the College Campus, Mitundu Secondary School and surrounding areas.
"The project will bring a big improvement on water source and storage facility. Thus, once the project is completed the Campus will be getting water from two sources and there will be two water storage tanks. As such, improving continuity of water supply" Said Kawala.

Currently, the project is said to be at its final stage with three boreholes equipped with submersible pumps, pumping transmission lines from boreholes to clear water tank (sump) and from sump to elevated tank, 100 m3 concrete sump, 150 m3 elevated steel plated storage tank and a control building with two surface pumps and dosing equipment installed at the project sit.
The project will augment the existing system, thereby increasing access to potable water and hours of water supply service within the campus will also improve. This will in return improve the quality of life and social-economic activities of the people benefiting from the project especially the students and staff. Kawala further praised the project
Programmes Coordinator, Dr David Mkwambisi attributed the projects importance to the current expansions taking shape at the campus and the increased student intake.

"With the tremendous increase in intake of students at LUANAR, Bunda Campus especially and increased population of the surrounding areas, demand for the water resource has also increased. Hence the existing water works facilities are inadequate to supply all areas. As such some areas within the Bunda Campus especially those in the high laying areas experience frequent water shortages when water level in the existing tank is low". Mkwambisi said.

The current student population is at 3347 and is expected to increase by 5% in the next years. This will subsequently increase the demand for water hence the need to supplement the existing water supply.

Despite having implemented and completed the project within the agreed time frame, the new water facilities have not commenced operation. John Makwenda, CRWB Project Implementation Manager indicated that it is taking longer than expect for ESCOM to connect electricity that will be used to run the facility, hence the delays in initiating the operations.
Makwenda further hinted on the financial constraints that led to the removal of some critical aspects of the project including the installation generator and a fence. The former would cushion the system when power goes off while the latter would secure the premises against any vandalism especially at boreholes area and the pumping house. He then advised the university to consider the construction of a fence and surrounding villages to create a buffer zone around this area.

Apart from the water supply project, the Royal Norwegian government is also funding the construction of a 212 bed female students hostel, a magnificent teaching and learning complex facility, rehabilitation of existing teaching and learning facilities, and the rehabilitation of the sewage system. This constitutes a three-year Infrastructure Development Programme (IDP) amounting to NOK 60 Million (USD7.5Million). All works are expected to be completed by 2018.


Written by Christie Kang'ombe