Central communities to get potable water soon

Fifteen Water Supply Systems (WSS) based on mechanized boreholes are being constructed under the Sustainable Rural Water and Sanitation Project (SRWSP) for selected towns in the Central Region.

The programme is providing 200 boreholes, with hand bumps, in some rural communities in the selected Metropolitan, Municipal and District areas.

The 75 million-dollar project, funded by the Government and the International Development Association of the World Bank, is aimed at increasing the provision of safe drinking water and improving sanitation

The SRWP, which started in May 2012, is scheduled to be completed in December.

In all, 1,200 boreholes and 69 WSS are expected to be constructed in the six beneficiary regions: Northern, Brong Ahafo, Upper East, Upper West, Western and Central regions.

Mr. Clement Bugase, Chief Executive Officer of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), the main facilitating Agency of the project, announced this at the weekend when he visited some project sites at Assin Fosu, with other CWSA Board of Directors.

The visit by the nine-member board, led by Nana Danso Agyei Ababio, Paramount Chief of Nkasem Traditional Area in the Brong Ahafo, was to inspect the progress of the project and find out the preparations done by beneficiary communities to manage the system when completed.

The board visited the Assin Andoe-Besease-Kyinso, Wurakese, Kwamoano-Armakrom, Nyinabotoa SRWSP sites, and the Assin Fosu Small Town Water System, which was completed in 2012 under the Central Government and European Union Small Town Water and Sanitation Project.

Mr. Bugase expressed optimism that the project, which was about 90 per cent complete, would be ready as scheduled, while the others would be completed latest by January 2015.

Nana Ababio, for his part, said he was impressed with progress of work, especially with the fact that soon the people of the beneficiary communities would have access to potable water and pledged the Board’s commitment to work in the interest of the people.

He expressed optimism that the provision of water in the beneficiary communities would improve the sanitation and hygiene situation and urged beneficiary communities to sustain and manage the system and boreholes well to prolong their durability.

Nana Nyansaboakwa, Odikuro of Kwamoano in the Hemang Lower Denkyira District, expressed gratitude to the Government for not neglecting them but providing them with a water system, which would solve most of their water associated problems.

He gave the assurance that the system would be well managed for its benefits to be maximized but appealed for the installation of plants, because of the erratic power supply in the area, to ensure continual water supply.