People poach water, says officer

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Thursday 2nd May 2013

 THE growing population in the Taurama valley is poaching the water supply for the Taurama barracks in Port Moresby,  commanding officer Lt-Col Stanley Benny says.

He said more than 2,000 people at the army barracks were affected by water shortage.

“There is no water at the barracks,” he told The National yesterday.

“My soldiers and their families are suffering from lack of water.”

 “We have no flowing rivers nearby to help us,” Benny said.

He added that the water pipes in the Taurama valley were purposely installed for the army barracks.

“These small water pipes are not large enough to have the capacity to supply the growing population in the valley,” Benny said.

He said the landowners at the Taurama valley had sold land to people without considering that Port Moresby is a city.

“There was no land survey, the land was not zoned with lots and sections, and there is no physical planning of the area.

“The buildings were not certified by the building board,” Benny said.

He revealed that settlers at the Taurama valley were poaching water on the water pipes of the Taurama barracks.

Benny added: “The settlers fence their areas very close to the road.

“It’s a government law, that people should not build their houses 10-15m close to the road.

“This is a state land, and now the water pipes are inside their residences, which are illegal.”

Benny said that the soldiers had done awareness last week to the settlers of illegal connection of water.

 Meanwhile, Eda Ranu general manager operations Joseph Tuaki said they had plans to install separate water pipe lines for Taurama barracks.

“The settlers will use separate water pipe lines,” Tuaki said.

He said settlers at Taurama valley were building houses with no proper designs for services of water, sewerage, telephone and electricity lines.