The federal government, yesterday ,launched the Partnership for Expanded Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH) set to cost about N510 billion.

The Minister for Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Adamu stated this in the Partnership for Expanded Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH Program Strategy 2016-2030.

Giving the breakdown, he said, “It will amount to N290.5 billion for water supply and N219.1 for public toilets.”

Engr. Suleiman added that “the cost for household toilets is estimated at N855.5billion largely to be borne by households in addition to the cost of operating and sustaining the services which includes software components estimates at N327.5 during the period2016-2030.”

He said, “The PEWASH programme is designed to be a national collaborative instrument between all stakeholders including government at all levels, development partners, others and the beneficiary communities.

“It is intended to mobilize all stakeholders’ efforts and channel same towards common goals, targets and standards,” he said.

“The primary goal of the programme is to contribute to improvement in public health and eradication of poverty in Nigeria through the achievements of SDGs Targets 6.1 and 6.2 especially in the rural areas where access to quality water supply and sanitation are grossly inadequate”.

Speaking on key challenges since assuming office, Engr. Suleiman assured that they had “made progress in several areas including getting the President’s approval for the Ministry’s Roadmap, Federal Executive Council (FEC), approval of the National water resource, irrigation and drainage policies, technical audit of 117 inherited ongoing projects, action plan for strengthening the River Basins Development Authorities(RBDAs) among others”

He said the PEWASH is a 15-year programme that is divided into three phases including “(Phase 1, covering the preparatory period, from 2016-2018 devoted to sustained advocacy, mobilisation and project take-off.