On Tuesday 16 May, Solomon Water together with stakeholders and partners celebrated a groundbreaking ceremony for the Honiara Water Reservoirs and Trunk Mains Project at the Panatina Reservoir site. The ceremony was led by the Minister for Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification Honorable Bradley Tovosia, and attended by officials from the Solomon Islands Government, Guadalcanal Provincial Government, key Solomon Water stakeholders and project donors, the Asian Development Bank, European Union and the World Bank.
The reservoir project, valued at USD$7.1m (SBD 57 m), is expected to greatly enhance the storage capacity and reliability of Honiara's water supply with three new reservoirs at Titinge, Tasahe and Panatina.
The trunk mains project will construct and commission three new potable water trunk mains at various locations across Honiara. The USD$7.8m (SBD 63 m) project will construct altogether 10km of new trunk mains from Kongulai to White River to Town Ground, East Kola to Kukum Highway, and Panatina to Burns Creek.
“A key policy priority of the Democratic Coalition Government for Advancement for 2023 is to host the 17th Pacific Games. The games will bring together 5000 athletes from 24 Pacific island countries and territories to compete in Honiara. The two projects will play a critical role in ensuring there is uninterruptable water supply during the games and will be a huge benefit to both the games and the significant number of people who will be arriving from the provinces, from the region and from overseas” said the Minister for Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification, Honorable Bradley Tovosia.
“This milestone brings us all closer to the goal of delivering safe, sustainable, resilient and reliable water supply and sanitation services to all people in the Solomon Islands. The Honiara Water Reservoirs project will increase treated water storage capacity in the greater Honiara area by almost 9 million liters. The Honiara Trunk Mains project will increase the transmission capacity from strategic Solomon Water facilities at Kongulai, East Kola, and Panatina improving the availability and quality of water services in the lower areas of Honiara” said ADB Solomon Islands Country Office Unit Head, Elmar Elbling.
Solomon Water Board Chair, Donald Marahare in his speech said "This is another significant milestone for Solomon Water and for the residents of Honiara. The reservoirs are essential to increase our storage capacity for treated water so that we are able to supply water to all customers with less disruption when we experience network problems or shutdown water supply because of high turbidity or pump breakdowns. Trunk mains are our main water transporting network, delivering large volumes of water between the source and reservoirs. This project will construct new mains that will increase our network's transfer capacity across Honiara”.
The trunk mains project was awarded to Pacific Engineering Projects Ltd. of New Zealand. The reservoirs project was awarded to Pacific Engineering Projects / ION Exchange joint venture.
The projects are part of the Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project (UWSSSP) funded by the World Bank, Eurpoean Union and Asian Development Bank, which aims to increase access to and improve the quality of water supply and sanitation services in Solomon Water service areas, as well as improve the operational performance of Solomon Water.
Solomon Water remains committed to improving value, improving services, and improving for the future, all aimed at delivering their vision of "Safe water for a healthy nation."
Media contact:
Ruth Ramoifuila, Communications and Corporate Support Coordinator
Phone: 44662 | Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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