Seoul City to Transfer 'Water Supply Technology' to Tanzania, Africa... Final Review Scheduled Within the Year

Improvement Project of Water Supply Facilities in Rural Areas of Dodoma City and Arusha Region, Tanzania, Africa
Scheduled as a New KOICA Grant Aid Project in 2023

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 18th, Seoul City announced that the African Tanzania water supply facility improvement project, proposed to KOICA in 2020, has been submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as one of the new KOICA grant aid projects for next year.

If the proposed project passes the final review within this year and is confirmed for implementation, it is expected that from 2023 to 2026, KOICA funds amounting to 3.82 million USD (4.7 billion KRW) will be invested to supply clean and safe drinking water to the Tanzania region in Africa.

In September 2019, after receiving a request for water supply technical consultation from Dodoma City, Tanzania, Seoul City conducted a preliminary survey and technical diagnosis consulting through a local visit in December of the same year and began preparing the KOICA proposal project from 2020. The project, named "Tanzania Urban and Rural Water Supply Facility Model Construction Project," aims to establish optimized water supply facility models for Dodoma City, the administrative capital of Tanzania, and Arusha Region, a rural area.

Location map of Dodoma City, Arusha Province, Tanzania

Dodoma City, the administrative capital of Tanzania, recently experienced a rapid increase in water demand due to population growth following the relocation of public institutions, but faced a high leakage rate of 33.8% and breakdowns in existing water supply facilities, necessitating facility improvements. Additionally, four villages in Arusha Region, a representative rural area of Tanzania, suffered from inadequate water supply, causing water shortages and waterborne diseases among residents. Especially, children and women spent most of their day fetching water, making it necessary to secure new clean and stable water sources and expand water supply facilities to improve quality of life.

Through this Official Development Assistance (ODA) project, Seoul City plans to upgrade the existing aging water supply facilities in Dodoma City and introduce an advanced water network block system to reduce leakage rates. The project also includes training to strengthen the local residents' capacity for water supply facility operation and management to ensure stable supply of clean drinking water.

For the four rural villages in Arusha Region, a plan has been established to develop high-quality abundant spring water located within a national park as a water source to supply safe drinking water that can replace groundwater. The water quality of the planned source is very good, requiring no separate purification treatment, and after chlorine disinfection at the reservoir, water will be supplied to the four target areas. Considering the poor power supply conditions, the plan is to use natural gravity flow from water intake to distribution.

Seoul City plans to work closely with KOICA until the project completion to ensure smooth progress by strengthening the capacity of local Tanzanian operational personnel, providing technical support and supervision, and sharing guidelines and technologies for water supply facility maintenance and management. Furthermore, Seoul City will continue to develop optimized project models for developing countries struggling with drinking water shortages and support improvements in poor water supply facilities.

Gu Ami, Head of Seoul City Waterworks Project Headquarters, said, “We are pleased to be able to transfer Seoul City’s excellent water supply technology to Tanzania, Africa, which is struggling with drinking water shortages through this government ministry proposal project,” and added, “If the project implementation is finally confirmed within this year, we will prepare thoroughly to proceed without any setbacks.”

Investigation of New Reservoir Sites in Arusha Region, Tanzania

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.