Blantyre Water Board (BWB) on Saturday struggled to calm down angry Bangwe residents who openly expressed disappointment over the board’s failure to supply potable water to the area.
Speaking during an interface meeting on the water situation the board organised with the Bangwe community, the frustrated residents said they have lost trust in the board and asked government to come to their rescue by looking for alternatives.
“For five years now, BWB has failed to give us water. We are asking government to intervene by either extracting water from Bangwe or Mpingwe Hills. We have had these meetings several times but they do not yield anything,” said one of the residents, Watson Komiha.
He also expressed disappointment over lack of representation by the board’s management at the meeting which left several questions unanswered as BWB marketing officer Catherine Chilemba kept apologising and promising to take the concerns to management.
But Chilemba promised that the board will come up with strategies that will ensure Bangwe residents residing in hilly areas get water from water bowsers while others get special consideration during rationing.
“As you can see works are underway and we believe by the end of these projects [construction of tanks] probably by December this year, water problems in the area will be history,” said Chilemba.
BWB is constructing water pumps at Mudi and a 300 cubic metre tank to serve Bangwe area.
Member of Parliament for Blantyre Bangwe, Davie Kadzinja, expressed appreciation towards efforts by the board and urged the residents to exercise patience.
