The Enugu State Government and WANDE NEXUS, an Austrian firm, have formalised an agreement to implement the Sustainable Last Mile Connectivity and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Project in Enugu.
With the signing, which took place yesterday at Government House, Enugu, in the presence of the Austrian Ambassador to Nigeria, Thomas Schlesinger, WANDE Nexus is to inject $100 million as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to modernise water infrastructure, improve service delivery, and ensure equitable access to clean water for all households in Enugu City.
Speaking, Governor Peter Mbah described the signing as an example of the relationship that could exist between a subsovereign and a sovereign, and a major step to getting water to the last mile in Enugu City.
He said: “We now have an investment of $100 million to deal decisively with the last mile connection, the downstream part of our water system.
“This huge sum shows that the economic reforms of the Federal Government and our effort to position Enugu as the premier destination for investment are yielding results because this is a major FDI, not just for us as a state, but even as a country.
“For the record, this is not a case where we are just signing an agreement that is exploratory. “This is an agreement we signed today for the funds to begin to flow. This is a discussion that started eight months ago.
“From signing an MoU, to Terms Sheet, to getting a Concession Agreement, today we are signing the final agreement and we expect that the investment funds will start to flow immediately, as they should have started with the connectivity to the last mile, and the procurement of the metres will commence.”
The governor explained that while the administration had been able to increase water production from an occasional two million litres to 120 million litres, the biggest challenge was in expanding the network and connecting the tertiary pipelines to the various homes.
In his address, Schlesinger said the investment had the strong backing of the Austrian Government, and commended Mbah for building the necessary international relationships and showing a strong commitment to making life better for his people
