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Regional News of Thursday, 28 July 2016

Source: Saaka Alhassan, Kpembi

CWSA to engage private operators for sustainability Community Water Systems

By: Saaka Alhassan, Kpembi

The Chief Executive Officer of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) says the Agency is considering engaging the services of services of private operators to manage the small town water and sanitation systems effectively in various beneficiaries Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the country.

Mr. Clement Bugase believe that will ensure the continuity and sustainability as well as prudent management of the small town water and sanitation systems in the country.

According to him, the Community Water and Sanitation Management Teams which has oversight responsibility of managing and ensuring the sustainability of the community water systems over the years have not been impressive in the management resulting to the breakdown of some of the water systems in most of the communities in the country.

He is convinced that with the support of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and the retraining of the Community Water and Sanitation Management Teams are retrain as well as ensuring proper supervision, there will be effective management and sustainability of the water systems.

Chief Executive Officer of CWSA, Mr. Clement Bugase gave the advice when a nine-member team of the Board of Directors of the Agency paid a familiarization visit to the east Gonja District of the Northern.

Mr. Clement Bugase urged the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to continue its role with the oversight supervision of the management team to ensure that they adhered to the regulatory act.

He also revealed that the Agency has finalized process of getting funding from Government of Ghana (GoG) for expansion and rehabilitation works to begin on the Salaga Small Town water system and Walewale to be able to provide water to those communities.

The familiarization visit is part of a regional tour by the Board of the Agency to some selected Metropolitan , Municipalities and Districts Assemblies in the Region to inspect rural water projects of the Agency to ascertain progress and how best to increase the water accessibility rate in the region.

The visit would also offer the team the opportunity to share some field experiences of the performance of the Water Systems with the district authorities, chiefs and opinion leaders as well as Water and Sanitation Management Teams.

The team led by Nana Danso Agyei II, Board Chairman of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) and Paramount Chief of Nkasem Traditional area visited the Kalende Water Treatment Plant, Salaga Water Distribution Center, the Kpembi Dam and ongoing work on the Kpalbe small town water project.

Nana Danso Agyei II, Board Chairman of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) and Paramount Chief of Nkasem Traditional area, entreated Chiefs to take keen interest in the management and sustainability of the water systems in their localities, since they have a vital role play in the water systems. He bemoaned the wanton pollution of water bodies and urged the chief to protect the water bodies against pollution.

He acknowledged that board is much aware of the water crises in Kpembi and Salaga and assured the chief and people of the area that efforts are being made to resolve it as soon as possible.

According to Nana Danso Agyei II, the Salaga water expansion project halted due to financial constraints. He told the chiefs and people of the area that funds are being source to work on the Salaga water system in the East Gonja and Walewale in the West Mamprusi districts of the Northern region.

The Salaga Community Water and Sanitation Project when completed is expected to have a tank capacity of 80 meters cube and will serve an estimated population of 4,463, in the East Gonja district.

The project which will be constructed at a cost of 1,393,445 Ghana cedis is to be funded by the Government of Ghana (GoG) and facilitated by the community Water ans Sanitation Agency.




















Saaka Alhassan
News Editor
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