$75m project to provide potable water for 600,000 people in six regions

The perennial water shortage at Supomu-Dunkwa, a village in the Shama District of the Western Region would soon come to an end with the provision of potable water under the World Bank funded small-town water supply project.

The projects being executed in 12 districts in the region is an initiative under the International Development Agency of the World Bank and is part of efforts to curtail water and sanitation problems that Africa in general and Ghana in particular had had to grapple with over the years as well as meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

Mr Joseph Jonah, an Engineer of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), the implementing body, who launched the project at Supomu-Dunkwa said an estimated 600,000 people in six regions: Western, Central, Brong Ahafo, Eastern, Upper East and Upper West were expected to benefit from the project before the 2015 deadline.

The sanitation component of the project will also provide household latrines for communities and individuals as a way of curbing open defecation and its attendant diseases like cholera, dysentery and diarrhoea.

In the Supomu-Dunkwa village alone, the CWSA will construct 20 boreholes and a number of stand-pipes which individuals could also connect into their homes.

Mr Jonah said the community was therefore charged to own the project, monitor, manage and maintain the facilities to ensure a longer lifespan.

Mr Emmanuel Nkrumah, Water and Sanitation Specialist with the Ghana Office of the World Bank said the bank had voted $75 million for the entire project.

He noted that sanitation had become a major problem in the country over the years and called for a community led approach to ensure its success.

Madam Emelia Arthur, Deputy Western Regional Minister spoke about the critical role water played in the development process.

She noted that government had in that regard signed an agreement with the Spanish Government to treat sea water for consumption.

Nana Pansor IV, Chief of Supomu-Dunkwa, expressed the communities’ gratitude to government and pledged support for the successful completion of the project.

Source: GNA