President Edgar Lungu yesterday unveiled a smart safe water supply scheme which will service communities in high density areas.

The project was implemented by MECB Consulting in partnership with the Lusaka City Council and funded by Millenium Challenge Account Zambia.

Explaining the innovation to President Lungu in Jack Compound, MECB Consulting monitoring and evaluation specialist Esau Shawa said the pump installed at the tank would work with both solar and hydro energy.

“This is the brain child for MECB Consulting, we applied to MCA Zambia and we were funded for this project. In a nutshell, this is a partnership between MECB Consulting and Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company…What we have here, we have a solar pump, it uses both solar and Zesco power. Those solar panels are the ones which harness energy from the sun but just in case there is cloud cover, the pump is smart such that it automatically switches to use Zesco power so that communities can have water 24/7. This here is able to pump 32 liters per second. This is going to service about 25,000 people,” explained Shawa when the Head of State toured the facility.

And speaking at the official handover ceremony after his tour, President Lungu thanked the United States government for the support.

“On behalf of the people and government of the Republic of Zambia, I wish to sincerely thank the people and government of the United States of America for this life saving support. Zambia and the United States of America have continued to enjoy a cordial bilateral relationship for many decades. The US$355 million grant which has delivered this project is one of the tremendous support received from the American government,” President Lungu said.

“The Lusaka Water Supply, Sanitation and Drainage project that has been implemented for the last five years will directly improve the lives of over 1.2 million residents of the city of Lusaka.”

President Lungu also ceased the opportunity to reiterate that Zambia-US relations were solid.

“It is opportune moments like this great ceremony, we see it fit to tell our own stories to correct the distortions that are being splashed in local and foreign media to poison relations with our friends. To harm our economy, and the country at large. But get it from me, when all that noise has subsidized, you will always hear from us the message of hope; the message of development that seeks to uplift the lives of our people out of poverty as the project is doing,” said President Lungu.