Residents of Musajjalumbwa choke on sewage

Mar 11, 2014

Residents of Musajjalumbwa flats in Kisenyi zone are complaining of consistent blockage of their sewer pipe lines resulting from an old sewer system.


By Vivian Agaba

Residents of Musajjalumbwa flats in Kisenyi zone are complaining of consistent blockage of their sewer pipe lines resulting from an old sewer system.

The residents say the system always breaks down leading to a terrible stench but when they contact officials from National water and Sewerage Corporation, they hardly get a quick response.

“Our sewer system always breaks down leading to the blockage of the pipes thus waste is stagnant and the stench is unbearable; our health and that of our children is at risk but when we contact officials from National water, they take long before coming to fix the problem,” said Rukia Mubarak, a resident.

However, Fatuma Karama also a resident puts blame on their area chairman whom she says residents gave money to have a new system fixed but to date thye have not seen it.

“In 2011, members in each flat were asked to pay sh200,000 for the fixture of a new system; all the 75 blocks paid but to date, we have not seen a new system and the residents fear asking the chairman to account for that money, “said Karama.

Pelwan, chairman Musajjalumbwa, in his defense, said the money residents claim to have given him to have a new system fixed was the money he paid to National water to connect the flats to the sewerage system.

“Before the present sewer system was put in place, we used septic tanks which became old and would fill up very fast. Residents paid and we were connected to the sewage system by National water but it has now grown old and pipes get blocked,” said Pelwan.

He confirmed that the system breaks down frequently but when officials from water are informed, they take days before responding yet residents pay a lot of money for the services.

Samuel Apedel, Public relations officer National water says such problems of sewage brokerages are as a result of old infrastructure that brings about water bursts but the ministry has service delivery plans under way around Kampala and the surrounding areas from January to June this year.

He adds that much as there is a standby team to work on such complaints of blocked sewage systems, they cannot be everywhere; he encourages the public to always report such problems as soon as possible to have the problems fixed
 

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