President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Monday inaugurated Phase-3 of the Five Districts Water Supply Project at Adaklu in the Volta Region, a project for which he cut the sod in September 2020.

The project, financed by a concessionary facility from Raiffeisen Bank International AG of Austria at a cost of €11.5million, will benefit some 89,150 people of 95 communities in Central Tongu, Adaklu and Agotime-Ziope.

According to President Akufo-Addo, who addressed a gathering at Adaklu, some key components of the project include construction of three (3) concrete tanks at Adaklu Kpeleho, Adaklu Sofa and Adaklu Kpatove, to help keep the water safe from any bacteria; the completion of a water-booster station at Adaklu Kpeleho to transport water to Adaklu and Agotime-Ziope communities; and the laying of one hundred and seventy-five (175) kilometres of water pipelines.

With designs for Phase-IV of the project ongoing, the president told the gathering that government’s aim is to ensure that all regions across the country are provided with adequate, safe, affordable and reliable water services.

“We are also committed to ensuring that we practice safe sanitation and hygiene by the year 2030, in line with attaining the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our strategic goal is to use a multi-faceted approach, with emphasis on governance and sector institutional strengthening, to accelerate access to equitable WASH services throughout Ghana,” he said.

Regarding the goal of providing clean water and sanitation for all, President Akufo-Addo noted that his government has made significant progress toward this.

He cited the commissioning in September 2020 of completed projects under the Water Supply Improvement Project of the Ghana-Spain Debt Swap Development, implemented by the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) at a total cost of US$3.78 million for a beneficiary population of 75,000.

“That Project seeks to expand access to and ensure sustainable services in thirty-six (36) rural and small towns/communities in the Ho, Ho West, Agotime-Ziope and South Dayi districts. Outstanding works are expected to be completed by March next year,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo continued: “Again, on 30th June 2020 I also commissioned Cluster Water Systems at Bontrase and Amasamkrom in the Central Region, as part of the Sustainable Rural Water and Sanitation Project (SRWSP). These commissioning ceremonies were done to symbolise the completion of similar water systems implemented in eleven (11) out of the country’s sixteen (16) regions, and this was financed from a US$47.5million credit facility from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank”.

The other beneficiary regions, he stressed, were Ahafo, Bono, Bono East, Western, Western North, Northern, North East, Savannah, Upper West and Upper East.

The project components, he added, included the construction of piped-water supply systems; support for constructing household latrines; health and hygiene education, and environmental and social safeguards for one hundred and sixty-four (164) beneficiary communities with a total population size of 154,826.

Under the Rural Communities and Small Towns Water Supply Project (RCSTWSP), government is improving access to sustainable water delivery within the Volta, Oti, Greater Accra, Ashanti and Eastern Regions to benefit a total population of some two hundred and eighty-two thousand (282,000), at thirty million euros (€30 million). The project is ongoing and some seventeen percent (17%) complete.

Urban Communities – ‘Water for All’

Touching on the ‘Water for All’ agenda in urban communities, President Akufo-Addo stated that the Keta Water Supply Project being implemented by the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources through the Ghana Water Company Limited will also improve the reliability and sustainability of water supply to a beneficiary population of some 422,160 in Keta and surrounding communities, at an estimated cost of €85,112,854.

Works under this project, he indicated, are expected to be completed by December 2024.

Additionally, the Wenchi Water Project being constructed at a cost of €39million involves constructing a new water treatment facility, and rehabilitating the existing ground-water system to meet current and future water requirements of the community until 2045.

“The project is expected to serve some 101,870 people living within Wenchi and its environs,” he said

On the Sekondi-Takoradi Water Supply Project, which will cost some €70million and serve a beneficiary population of about 1.4 million within Sekondi-Takoradi communities, President Akufo-Addo stated that the project is expected to be completed by September 2025.

“The feasibility studies for the proposed Sogakope-Lome Transboundary Water Supply Project are ninety-eight percent (98%) complete, and funding will be sought to achieve sustainable improvement for access to drinking water for four million consumers in the project area. In Ghana, the project beneficiaries will include the Southern Volta area – more specifically the municipalities/districts of Keta, Ketu South, Ketu North, South Tongu and Akatsi South,” he added.