The Sierra Leone Brewery Limited (SLBL) and Heineken Africa is sponsoring the construction of a mini-dam and reservoir at the Wellington Peacock Farm that will serve about 12,000 people when completed.
In an interview with the Councilor of Ward 350, Constituency 97, Mohamed J. Tholley said because people in the area are suffering for water and sanitation, he decided to write a project and sent it to Brewery for financial support.
Councilor Tholley said Brewery accepted the proposal and they agreed that they will support them and the financial package will be divided in two parts and they have received the first payment of Le96 million, which they have used to complete up to 70 percent of the project.
“We are still to receive the balance of Le25 million that will complete the project and we will start supplying the water to the taps. We should construct 10 taps for the community and we have already constructed five and when we receive the balance we will construct the remaining five,” Councilor Tholley stated.
The Councilor said he is very grateful to Brewery for this support as they have come in at the right time to help them provide water for the people of Peacock Farm, as he said they were struggling to get water because they relied on wells around the community that were not safe.
He said the dam is presently challenged because people have started encroaching at the top, but says they have negotiated with land owners to move away from the dam so that they can plant trees to protect the dam and keep it safe.
Some of the elders said they will make sure that the dam is well secured because what Brewery has done for them is great and they will want the dam to last a long time.
Councilor Tholley said the dam’s capacity will be increased as time goes on, but for now they are working with the finance they have.
“As you can see, the dam is the source and it will supply the reservoir that can hold 40,000 litres of water. From the reservoir, the pipe runs directly to the taps where the people can fetch the water. The water will be treated at the reservoir and as you can see more than 500 meters of pipes have been run from the dam to the taps,” the Councilor maintained.
He called on the community to make sure they protect the project when it is finished and they will have to pay some money for the water as they will have to be buying chemicals to purify the water and to increase the dam’s capacity in the future.
The Councilor said as soon as Brewery gives them the remaining money, they will definitely finish the project and the community will start receiving water. “This project is already three months old and we have done most of the work, we intend to get it operational so that we can start enjoying our labour,” Councilor Tholley assured.
He thanked Brewery on behalf of the community and said they will be looking for more support from other institutions and organisations that will come to their rescue as they still face sanitation problem in the area. He said nothing is too small to help the community but believe that anybody who wants to help them should meet with them because they believe in transparency and accountability always.
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