President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says the government is committed to offering solutions to the infrastructural challenges plaguing the sanitation and water resources sector.
According to him, the Akufo-Addo government is investing an amount of some US$ 1.4 billion in several water and sanitation projects nationwide.
He stated that some of these projects have been completed while others are still ongoing stressing that it is expected that some 5.3 million people will benefit from these interventions when completed.
Speaking at the commissioning of the ultra-modern Simplified Sewerage Facility and Treatment Plant at Ashaiman, and the rehabilitated and expanded Bankuman Simplified Sewerage Plant in Accra, President Akufo-Addo noted that the two (2) projects were constructed at a cost of $6.6 million.
He stated “the projects being commissioned today are examples of the many sanitation projects that have been provided across the country. This magnificent simplified sewerage system, as well as the rehabilitated Bankuman project, will inure to the benefit of the people living within the catchment areas of Ashaiman and Bankuman communities of Greater Accra.”
“I urge all of us to help sustain and improve the gains made so far by maintaining healthy environmental sanitation, protecting our water bodies and supporting the Clean Ghana Campaign,” he added.
The Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources Hon. Freda Prempeh said it is evident that Communities without adequate sanitation infrastructure are exposed to a high risk of infection with excreta-related diseases.
She was hopeful that the project would reduce the risk of these infections and enhance the living standards of the beneficiary population in the Ashaiman and Bankuman Communities.
She said “Your Excellency, I have been reliably informed that under your able leadership and guidance, the Ministry, in collaboration with its partners have constructed 234,000 household toilets from 2017 to date.”
Hon. Henry Quartey, the Greater Accra Regional Minister bemoaned the situation where urbanization of the region and stress on existing facilities has forced many inhabitants to resort to open defecation.
He explained that the insanitary situation in the region has been a source of great concern to all citizens.
Anna Cestari, Practice Manager, Water Global Practice, Africa West & Central in a speech read on behalf of Pierre Laporte, the World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia & Sierra-Leone said providing reliable access to water and sanitation is essential for the health and wellbeing of the citizens of any country.
She noted that the challenges of sanitation delivery are numerous, and it requires a consistent support to ensure that the health and well-being of citizens is maintained.
Anna said the provision of these services can never be put on hold, no matter the challenges since a lack of sanitation services makes any bad situation worse.
The two (2) new simplified sewerage networks, comprising some fifty-one kilometres of sewer lines, and a new wastewater treatment plant with a capacity of some one thousand, eight hundred metre-cubed per day (1,800m3/day) in Ashaiman, is to serve 4,805 households in the community.
The plant in Bankuman, with a capacity of one thousand, six hundred metre-cubed per day (1,600m3/day), is to serve some three thousand, one hundred (3,100) households.
The GAMA Project has been so successfully executed that additional financing was sought and obtained from the World Bank to extend the intervention to the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area.
Under the additional financing, 129 improved and modern disability-friendly, gender sensitive institutional toilet facilities, as well as 30,000 household toilet facilities are under construction for beneficiary schools and individual households, respectively, in the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area.
Source: Kofi Yirenkyi