A D200 million Rural Water Supply Support Programme was, on Thursday November 15, 2007, launched in Janjangbureh, Central River Region.

Lamin Nyabally, permanent secretary at the Department of State for Fisheries, Water Resources and National Assembly matters, launched the programme on behalf of his Secretary of State, Yankuba Touray.

In his launching  remarks, PS Nyabally said that the  programme will not only give clean portable water and proper sanitation to the rural and peri-urban population of115,000 people, but will also supply portable water right across the country. Mr Nyabally, on behalf of The Gambia  government, thanked the  EC for funding the Rural Water supply support programme, noting that the program will go a long way in reducing the stress on the national health budget and fuel important cost, particularly for the main project areas: URR, CRR, NBR and WR.

He disclosed that in the coming years, the challenge in the water sector will be to promote and facilitate the management of our water resources and infrastructure construction throughout the country.

Mr Nyabally intimated that rural water supply should not be treated as a mere service delivery process, but as a step towards household water security.

Water security, he said, requires household, community and national action to protect and preserve water resources, to use water as a scare resource and to ensure its equitable supply. He asserted that government has recently promulgated a water policy which, among others, calls for the establishment of a management and inclusive water resources framework based on integrated resource management principles.

For his part , Ganyie Touray, governor of CRR said that President Jammeh see the development of the rural people as a top priority in his development agenda, noting that the launching of the Rural Water supply support programme was a clear testimony of this drive to improve the living standard of the rural people.

He hailed the efforts of the department of state for fisheries and water resources for effectively and efficiently managing the rural Water supply which resulted to the provision of boreholes and water reticulation system to needy communities in the region. He urged the community to maintain the facilities properly to ensure their durability.

The coordinator of Rural Water Supply Sector Support programme, Mr Ousman Jarjusey, pointed out that the rural water supply focuses on poverty reduction by enhancing the capacity of delivery of sustainable water supply services. Similar programmes took place at Kerewan, Basse and Mansakonko.