House Approves 92m euros for Water, Sanitation Projects

Story: Mary Mensah
Parliament has approved a 92-million euro loan for the provision of sanitation and water services in small towns and rural areas.
The project, which is expected to start next year, is being funded by the European Investment Bank (EIB), Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
At the meet-the-press series in Accra yesterday, the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, said the total project cost involved an 80-million euro loan facility and a grant component of 12 million euros.
He said the ultimate aim of the government was to make water accessible and affordable to every Ghanaian and that it was doing everything to improve water delivery in both urban and rural areas.
He said although the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) operated 85 pipe-borne water systems, with a production capacity of 150 million gallons per day, the daily demand for water supply stood at 237 million gallons.
According to the minister, over the years, demand for water in the urban areas had out-stripped supply as a result of factors such as obsolete water infrastructure, uncontrolled human settlement, encroachment on headworks, leading to siltation, and difficulty in expansion and validation of water assets.
Mr Mensah said most of the water facilities in the country were over 40 years old and were designed for populations far less than what they were serving now.
He cited the Kpong Water Works, which was designed in 1965 to serve a population of about 500,000 living in Accra and Tema as an example.
He, however, said there had been rehabilitation works on a number of water supply systems to improve the delivery of safe and affordable water to the urban areas.
Mr Mensah said, for instance, that between 2009 and now, the government had secured a combination of loans and grants totalling $1.4 billion and also contributed GH¢6.4 million from the national purse to ensure that the supply gap was effectively managed within a planning horizon of 2025.
He said rehabilitation works were currently ongoing at the Kpong water project at a cost of $273 million, under the sponsorship of the Government of Ghana and the Chinese Exim Bank to increase water supply to Accra/Tema Metropolitan Area by 40 million gallons per day.
He said on completion, the Kpong Water Works would also supply water through Dodowa to the terminal reservoir at Okponglo in Accra to improve water supply to Adenta, Madina, Kwabenya, Ashongman, North, East and West Legon, Ashaley Botwe, Haatso, Boi, Asofaa, Dome and its environs.
According to him, 40 per cent of the works had been completed, with the entire project due for completion by 2014.
Mr Mensah said Parliament had also approved  $10.3 million for the establishment of GIS offices in all the 10 regions of Ghana, saying the project would provide a geographical framework for managing the operations and customer care activities of the GWCL to enhance the efficiency of urban water delivery in the country.