Residents of Mbuji-Mayi in Kasai-Oriental Province, in the south-central part of Democratic Republic of Congo have expressed concern over the ongoing water shortage in the city as water supplying companies in the city face operational and financial challenges.
With just few weeks to go before before dry season starts in that part of the country, Mbuji-Mayi has already been hit with a lack of water as suppliers, MIBA Foundation (FOMI), the Water Distribution Board (Regideso) and the Associations of Users of Drinking Water Networks (Asurep) struggle to supply water in the city that has a population of about 3.5 million people.
Residents, mostly women and young girls, can be seen in the city’s streets from as early as 4AM going in search of the precious commodity.
One of three water supplying companies spoken to revealed that it is set to shutdown operations indefinitely due to the dilapidated state of its water plant which will need to be revamped.
“It should be noted that Regideso will still not be able to supply the city until its machines, which are quite dilapidated, are not replaced. Above all, a long time ago, the company never knew how to create new distribution sites drinking water. That’s the real problem”, an official from the Regideso told ACTUALITE.CD.
Meanwhile, another water supplier, FOMI is set to be closed as the company is currently not stable financially to operate while ASUREP does not have enough capacity to supply the while city.
In the midst of the water shortage, the “Lemayi”, bicycle riders that sell water, have taken advantage of the situation and are selling 20 litre container of water at between 600 and 1000 Congolese Francs.
