By Bakah Derick
The Bamenda III municipality has treated their water experts from Germany to another hilarious welcome. The experts, Karli Heinisch and Gerd Muller arrived the council area on Tuesday January 10, 2023 and were received by an enthusiastic crowd with dance and music at the Ntaghem quarter hosting the Mayor.
The Bayelle Mbaglum led by men in beautifully made toghu and masquerades gave the municipal guests a special welcome.
"Bamenda III Council has a partnership with Trier City in Germany and in the partnership, Trier city had accepted to donate a water purification plant to Bamenda III. This was effectively done in 2015 and the population of Bamenda III is already enjoying good water though not every part but every year we make an effort to extend supply to other parts so more people can benefit from the water." Mayor Fongu Cletus Tanwe told www.hilltopvoices.com during the reception.
The experts are returning to Cameroon for optimisation just like was the case in 2021 when they moved the scheme production capacity from 40 to 60 thousand liters per hour.
"We produce this quantity sometimes and we have nothing to do with the water. When the reservoirs and tanks are full, we have to stop filtration since there is no where to store. That is why we had to build more tanks so we can filter good water and give to the population." Mayor Fongu justified why the optimisation was important.
At the end of this optimisation, Mayor Fongu told www.hilltopvoices.com that they are in Bamenda III to raise the production capacity from 60 to 70 liters per hour.
"After 14 months, it's time again. We are back in Bamenda! Karli and Gerd are going to install a pre-filter, build pump stations and connect two drinking water reservoirs. The greeting was once again warm with dance and drums. Once more it's: Welcome back home. And this time there was a special snack." Trinkwasser the institution sending the experts wrote on their Facebook.
Mayor Fongu Cletus Tanwe has expressed gratitude to Trinkwasser promising to install pressure boasters on the pipelines so those on high altitudes within the municipality can also have access to potable water. He described the optimisation this time as very important reason why his people came out to welcome their partners in dance and drums.
Mbaglum Bayelle welcoming the guests
The experts say they will begin their work immediately with the installation of a pre-filter infront of the main filters to increase the filtration duration and the quantity of filtrated water for the people of Bamenda town.
"It is our profession to provide water to people. We do it for our company and we decide to help other people to get water. We assist communities without much money to have water. It is our culture to help and that is why we training people here to filtrate water to help other people." Gerd Muller told www.hilltopvoices.com.
While assuring that the water shall remain affordable for all, Mayor Fongu Cletus maintained that the Bamenda III Council water scheme is of "very good quality" going by the time invested in the maintenance, the resources and personnel engaged in the project.
Though very rare and uncommon, the guests apart from being treated to good traditional music and food also had a special snack made of bats served on the banquet table.
This Wednesday, the experts were at the Menteh purification plant were they made evaluation of the situation and started work immediately.