Water supply for settlements planned

National

Department of National Planning and Monitoring is working closely with the Asian Development Bank and Eda Ranu to connect water supply to settlements in Port Moresby, an official says.
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Policy 2015-2030 national coordinator Takale Tuna said results from a trial project in the Tete settlement would be used to come up with an approach to be used across PNG.
“Eda Ranu says it’s quite difficult to actually open the main grid to the settlements, because it depends on profit,” Tuna said.
He said with the support of Asian Development Bank, “we are working with Eda Ranu to actually try to find an approach in settlements starting in Port Moresby”.
“We will try two settlements starting with Tete as a pilot, but our thinking is that rather than looking at settlements alone, we also need to take care of our indigenous people.
“The opportunity is the Hanuabada fire, so hopefully, we can use that as a pilot as well,”
“It’s a phenomenon around the world that wherever there is a city, obviously there’s going to be settlements and slums, so as a government we need to address that.”
Water Aid PNG country director Eileen Tugum said about 900 children died annually from diarrhoea due to lack of proper water, sanitation and hygiene conditions.