President of Republic Supervises Ceremony To Deliver Large Batch of Equipment to National Sanitation Office
On 23 July, in Nouakchott, Mr. Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, the President of the Republic, supervised the ceremony of handing over a large batch of materials, machines, and equipment for the benefit of the National Sanitation Office (ONA).
The machines and equipment, which will strengthen the ONA’s performance and enable it to intervene effectively in the fight against floods, consist of 33 vacuum trucks, nine high-pressure cleaner trucks, five large hydraulic excavators, two mini excavators, two bulldozers, backhoes, two crane trucks, two heavy transport trucks, 75 hydroelectric pumps, 4560 linear meters of pipes, 3745 manhole covers, five generators, a differential GPS, and 15 four-wheel drive vehicles.
The equipment, which will qualitatively strengthen the ONA’s capacity to fulfill the missions entrusted to it, cost 12 million US dollars, financed by the World Bank.
During the ceremony, His Excellency, the President of the Republic, followed a presentation by the ONA’s Director General, Mr. Ahmed Zeidane Ould Mohamed Mahmoud, on the various equipment, machines, and materials and their contribution to improving the ONA’s overall performance. The President of the Republic subsequently reviewed the various equipment and machines.
At the start of the ceremony, His Excellency watched a video presentation on the ONA’s tasks, the results achieved in recent years, and its future work plans to develop sanitation in the country’s major cities.
In a speech delivered on the occasion, Mr. Ismail Ould Abdel Fettah, the Minister of Water and Sanitation, explained that the equipment would contribute, after its commissioning, to strengthening the ONA’s park and capacities and put an end to the damage usually caused by rain, particularly in areas not covered by rainwater drainage networks.
He indicated that Mr. Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, the President of the Republic, gave clear instructions to the Department to accelerate the implementation of comprehensive and modern sanitation in the city of Nouakchott, noting that the ministry has worked over the last few months to the implementation of these instructions, starting with the evaluation of the files of the companies applying for the implementation of the project.
He added that the next term of the President of the Republic would begin with the laying of the first stone for the establishment of a modern sanitation network in the capital Nouakchott, recalling that the water and sanitation department has worked in recent months to extend the existing rainwater drainage network in this city by connecting many low-lying areas, the results of which will be visible during the current rainy season.
The minister reviewed examples of interventions carried out by the ONA in recent years, including the cleaning, rehabilitation, and restoration of the sewerage network and pumping stations in the city of Rosso, the cleaning and restoration of rainwater drainage networks in the towns of Kaedi, Aleg, and Akjoujt, and the progress of work on rainwater drainage networks in the towns of Atar and Selibabi.