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PART III: ENGINEERING
A. CIVIL
Surveys
181. During the year surveys have been carried out in all Regions, delineat- ing Unit boundaries, roads and traces, siting installations, locating sources of water, etc., according to the availability of staff and weather conditions. Kongwa is ahead of all other areas in the matter of survey, although towards the end of the year work at Urambo had progressed rapidly. In the Southern Province the task is much more difficult, but steady progress was maintained, and additional staff made it possible to attain greater speed in covering vast areas of trackless and uninhabited country.
Road Construction
182. (i) Kongwa: All roads are of the consolidated earth type and needed constant maintenance to keep them fit for the great amount of heavy traffic using them. Eleven miles of major roads and 372 miles of secondary roads were constructed.
183. In addition, considerable maintenance was carried out on the fourteen mile stretch of Government road, between Kongwa and Sagara, in order to keep this road open to water tankers, and to lorries bringing meat and vege- tables from Mlala, 20 miles east of Sagara. Also, a short stretch of road on the up-wind side of the tented hospital was metalled and surfaced, in order to mitigate the dust nuisance and as an experiment in all-weather road construction.
184. (ii) Urambo: All roads here are earth roads. Twenty-eight miles of major roads and thirty-one miles of secondary roads were constructed.
185. (iii) Southern Province: The keeping open of the Government road from Mkwaya to Nachingwea has been a major task. The Corporation has had to maintain and improve the road, and traffic interruptions have been few. A proposal to metal and surface the whole length of this vital road was rejected mainly because of the high cost. A number of secondary roads have been cut and compacted.
Water Supply
186. (i) Kongwa: During the year the Kongwa township was provided with a piped water supply, initially from the saline boreholes on the Mbuga, later supplemented by more drinkable water from deep boreholes in the Mission Valley. Until December, many pump breakdowns were experienced and Kongwa was often short of water. With the installation of electric sub- mersible pumps in early December, these water shortages ceased. As more boreholes were sunk, the piped service was increased and improved, until by the end of March, a completely reticulated system was in operation. It is still necessary to restrict supplies of water to nine hours a day as the growth of the township is faster than that of the production and storage of water.
187. Further boreholes have been sunk in the Units but the quality of the water from them is poor and water for drinking must still be tankered to the Units from Kongwa and Sagara.
188. (ii) Urambo: The water supply improved throughout the year. Industrial water for building purposes was drawn from shallow wells near the Railway Station, and was adequate. Regional Headquarters was served by four deep boreholes, with a fifth as a stand-by, and their total yield of 1,600 gallons an hour proved sufficient, although more will be necessary before
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large-scale operations can be sustained.
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