The Mombasa County government has launched a water distribution project targeting low income settlements in the county.
Mombasa Water Supply and Sanitation Company (Mowassco) launched the project which will help residents in the county access clean piped water, in a bid to curb water-borne diseases and improve the quality of life of more than 300,000 residents.
Mowassco's Lower Income Consumers Manager Isaac Okoyo said the project will mostly target residents living in low income settlements.
Mr Okoyo said some of the areas they are targeting include Likoni, Nyali, Kisauni, Changamwe, Jomvu and Mvita Constituencies.
The manager said 2,500 people would have access to clean running water by December this year.
Okoyo said the county government and Mowassco had introduced a social connection policy which will enable the low income consumers to pay an initial Sh1,500 for connection and repay the remaining Sh8,500 within 24 months.
“These terms make water connections affordable for everyone, especially low-income earners,” said Okoyo.
“At the moment, we are expanding water lines and several people are receiving piped water in their homes for the first time. Eventually, every low income area in Mombasa will be receiving water,” he added.
Mr Okoyo also noted that the project will also aim at putting up public toilets in various strategic settlements where hundreds of residents could also access clean water.
The county government and Mowassco have partnered with Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP), Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) of the World Bank, Videns Evides International (VEI) and the Kenya Information Settlements Improvement Project (Kisip) to ensure that residents can access clean piped water.
Mowassco Corporate Communications Manager Sarah Langat said the firm had launched a campaign to increase direct connections to low income residents.
According to Langat, some of the residents have had problems getting such services over the years.
“We have deployed staff to conduct a door to door campaign for residents to embrace direct connection beginning with West Mainland, and we expect to connect 450 people after this exercise,” said Langat.