Government to achieve 85% water coverage by 2015

Government aims to achieve 85 per cent water coverage by 2015, far above the 78 per cent target under the Millennium Development Goals.

Mr Alban Bagbin, Minister of Water Resources Works and Housing, who made this known in Accra, said government is also targeting to achieve water for all on sustainable basis by 2025.

Mr Bagbin was speaking during a courtesy call on him by the Board Members of the Conrad Hilton N. Foundation who are in the country to assess its contribution to the country’s water sector.

The Hilton Foundation has funded water project for about 25 years, resulting in the drilling of about 3,000 boreholes in Ghana.

The visit afforded the board of the Foundation the opportunity to assess its 21 years of partnership and support through financial assistance to the World Vision Ghana’s Ministry to children and families in the most deprived areas in the country.

Mr Bagbin said to achieve the set targets, government is adopting a sector-wide approach with stakeholders including the private sector.

Government is also scaling up financing to the sector through the provision of $350 million annually to meet the demands in the sector.

Mr Conrad Hilton III, Board Member, said the body would use the opportunity to see at first hand the works that the $40 million the Foundation had committed in the last 20 years had helped to alleviate the plight of the vulnerable in relations to access to water.

The Conrad Hilton Board will be engaged in a number of activities including a courtesy call on the presidency and a field trip to the Northern parts of the country where some of its sponsored projects are in progress.

Source: GNA

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