MORE than 20,000 residents from 13 villages in Newala District, Mtwara region will benefit from the project to improve water services on the outskirts of Newala town which costs more than 2 Billion Sh.

Speaking today when the Freedom Torch race visited and inspected various development projects in the district, the Chairman of Lidumbe Village, Dadi Samli, said that the project has come to end the water problem that the people of those villages were facing.

"Water service for many years was a big inconvenience and nuisance for the people of these areas, now the arrival of this project is a great liberation for us," he said.

Mwajuma Ally, a resident of the village, has said that during this period when the rains continue to fall in various parts of the country, they are using the water, so they have overcome the challenge for now.

"Before these rains fell, we used to climb the mountain and cross to go down there to fetch water, it is a small step from here to there, so the coming of this project we say thank you very much to the government, it will make it easier for us to get water closer and easier," he said.

The manager of the Rural and Urban Water Agency (RUWASA), Newala District Engineer Nsajigwa Sadik, has said that the project has reached 85 percent and is expected to be completed on April 30 this year.

13 villages of Mkunya, Mtumachi, Mcholi 1 and Mcholi 2 wards in Newala district will benefit from the project.