Deal brings promise of clean water

National

The people of Yangoru-Saussia district in the East Sepik now have access to improved water, sanitation and hygiene services.
This followed a recent signing of a deal between Oxfam PNG and local MP Richard Maru in Port Moresby.
Like many rural communities in the country, people from Yangoru-Saussia face various challenges when it comes to having access to clean water and sanitation.
Yangoru-Saussia district development authority chief executive officer Fentson Yaninen said he was excited about the programme, adding that to have a partner like Oxfam gave confidence that the work would be carried out.
“We have 96 wards, including four government station service centres, to cover. So far we have done 14 and we should get there,” he said.
So to have a partner is a sure way of having confidence that we are heading somewhere,” Yaninen said.
Maru highlighted the appalling figures that showed that over the last 42 years, Papua New Guinea’s water and sanitation had evolved poorly, resulting in only 40 per cent of the population having access to improved drinking water and just19 per cent having access to improved sanitation.
A report by the Asian Development Bank revealed that Papua New Guinea had already missed its Millennium Development Goals in water and sanitation targets for 2015 and, unless considerable improvements were made, would also miss national targets identified in the Government’s strategic development plan 2030.
The Government is now determined and focused on implementing its newly enacted PNG national water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) policy (2015–2030) at the provincial and district levels as well as in rural village communities.