UGANDA, Kiboga | Real Muloodi News | A USh6 billion sewage treatment plant, built by the Ministry of Water and Environment in Kiboga District, has gone unused for four years.
The plant was meant to serve residents with waterborne toilets, but the absence of connected residential and commercial buildings in Kiboga Town has left the facility unutilised.
“Majority of the residents here still use traditional pit-latrines yet this facility was meant to benefit those with waterborne toilets where human waste can easily reach the faecal sludge management facility through the sewer system,” says Mr Abasi Ssekiranda, the chairperson of Central Umbrella Board, which manages the facility.
The plant was part of a larger project aimed at improving sanitation and access to clean water in rural areas.
Though a small amount of waste is being treated, it is mostly coming from urban centres like Mubende and Hoima.
“When the project was completed in 2019 , the ministry also gave us a sewage suction truck but because it was lying idle at Kiboga Central police station, the battery got spoiled and it was eventually taken to the centre where it is much needed,” Mr Ssekiranda explains.
The facility was also intended to produce manure for gardening.
The Kiboga Resident District Commissioner, Mariam Nalubega, is concerned about the wasted investment and believes it is the responsibility of leaders to educate residents on the importance of proper lavatory facilities.
“When I had just been posted here, I visited the facility and I found it lying idle; when I talked to Mr Ssekiranda, he revealed to me that they never carried out research to establish whether that was the most needed project for the Kiboga,” she said.
A similar situation is happening in Kayunga Town, where a USh1.1 billion sewage treatment plant remains unutilised due to residents’ reluctance to install waterborne toilets because of the cost.
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