Jirama's Director General, General Hajatiana Rasolomanana, used the celebration of Jirama's 50th anniversary in Mahajanga last Friday to visit electrical installations operated by service provider Enelec at Marolaka. During this visit, he found that Enelec's production capacity covers only 37% of Jirama subscribers' needs, falling short of contractual commitments. This production remains insufficient to meet daily demand, estimated at 17 MW.

Faced with this situation, the Director General demanded rapid production increases and submitted an action plan with an implementation timeline to restore production capacity to 100%. Power cuts and load shedding continue to affect several neighborhoods in Mahajanga due to this significant electricity deficit.

The drinking water supply situation is equally concerning. For several decades, subscribers in the majority of the city's twenty-six fokontany have suffered persistent shortages. Many households lack water access and residents must obtain daily supplies from public fountains or water kiosks, despite work undertaken through the Drinking Water Supply Improvement Project (PAAEP), underway in Mahajanga for several months.

A 20-liter container costs 500 ariary when purchased from water carriers, compared to 100 ariary directly from public fountains.

Mahajanga's water production faces a daily deficit of 7,000 m³, against estimated needs of 34,000 m³ daily. Current production only reaches 27,000 m³ per day.

According to technicians, this shortfall is mainly explained by aging infrastructure, now inadequate for constantly increasing demand. Climate change effects and recurring equipment failures further worsen the situation.

Jirama's Director General also visited emergency phase PAAEP construction sites, executed by SOMEEIM company, to assess work progress. He urged concerned parties to respect the timeline. "Jirama is contributing to installing nine water boreholes in Mahajanga. Collaboration with the World Bank under the PAAEP project mainly aims to install generators at all boreholes, construct a pumping station for the Mangatokana reservoir, and lay 8.5 km of 600 mm diameter pipes. All these projects are already underway," stated General Hajatiana Rasolomanana.

Vero Andrianarisoa