A lawmaker in the Katsina State House Assembly, Alhaji Danlami Kurfi, has expressed concern over the abandoning of 204 waste disposal trucks and water tankers bought by the 34 local government areas of the state last year at the cost of N6.120 billion.
Daily Trust learnt that each of the 34 local government areas purchased six trucks at N180m. Kurfi expressed his concern yesterday while contributing to a motion on environmental sanitation moved by Alhaji Babangida Nasamu, member representing Katsina Local Government Area in the House.
"The vehicles were kept without utilization for the purpose they were meant for. The water and sanitation department of the 34 local government areas should be forced to put the vehicles into use.
"If our LGs need additional staff or need to review the salaries of the existing staff to adequately utilise the vehicles, they should inform government but it is unfortunate that the vehicles were underutilised," Kurfi said.
The trucks included three refuse collection trucks and three water tankers per local government. It was also gathered that additional sum of N2. 584billon was deducted from the local government accounts for the purchase of earth-leveller graders for the 34 local government areas.
Checks in some local governments indicated that though the funds were already deducted from their respective accounts, the vehicles are yet to be supplied to them.
When contacted, the Special Adviser to Governor Ibrahim Shehu Shema on Media Affairs, Mallam Muhammad Sani, said government had already directed the 34 local government areas to use the tankers for supplying water to their respective communities.
"Plans have been concluded for adequate utilisation of the trucks. Water tankers would start supplying water to rural dwellers while the refuse collection trucks would continue with collection of refuse in our local government areas," he said.
He said the state Rural and Urban Water and Sanitation Agency (RUWASA) would soon resume massive drilling of boreholes across the local government areas and that the projects would help in utilising the trucks.
DailyTrust