200 Fijians to benefit from the Sese Water Project

More than 200 Fijians from 40 households at Sese in Cuvu, Nadroga now have access to clean and safe drinking water.

This follows the commissioning of the Sese Water Project by the Minister for Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management, Inia Seruiratu.

The water project was completed under the Ministry’s Self-Help Programme with an investment of around $30,000 by Government.

Through a collaboration between the Ministry and the United Nations Development Programme’s Governance for Resilience in the Pacific to risk-inform the project, additional funding of $6,000 was committed towards supporting its sustainability.

The assistance by Government includes the provision of two 20,000 litre water tanks, while the additional funding by the Gov4Res Project was directed towards the installation of the storage facility and protection of the water infrastructure to ensure it could withstand future disasters such as cyclones.

Sese community water committee member and resident, Mun Reddy says that they were grateful to the Government and the UNDP’s Gov4Res for working together to enable the provision of clean drinking water to the residents of Sese.

Reddy says the community used to fetch water from other places in gallons and have had to transport it to their homes.

While commissioning the project, Seruiratu says the Sese Water Project was part of their joint partnership with the UNDP in working towards ensuring that all of their developments are risk-informed.

He says this water infrastructure is done in line with their resilience in development programme and it is their hope that the provision of water will not be disrupted come the next disaster.

Seruiratu adds water and sanitation was a key development programme for Government.