Minister lauds IRC over development projects

Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing has lauded the International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC) for supporting Ghana’s socio-economic development through its innovative projects.

He said IRC projects such as WASHCost, SWITCH and Sustainable Services at Scale (Triple-S) had helped the sector develop holistic modalities and strategies in the planning and provision of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services in the Country.

Alhaji Dauda gave the commendation on Wednesday in Accra during a WASH Sustainable Forum organized by the Ministry, in collaboration with the IRC, the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) and Water Services for stakeholders.

The forum, which was to mark the end of the Triple-S Project in Ghana, was on the theme: “Triple-S in retrospect; shaping the context of WASH sector partnerships at scale”.

The Triple-S project started in Ghana in 2009, by the IRC collaborating with the CWSA, in partnership with three district assemblies; Akatsi in the Volta Region, East Gonja in the Northern Region and Sunyani West in the Brong Ahafo Region, to improve water services delivery to the people.

The IRC is an international think-and-do tank that works with governments, NGOs, businesses and people around the world to find long-term solutions to the global crisis in water, sanitation and hygiene services.

The Minister said the contribution of Triple-S corroborates the vision of government in the water sector, as indicated by the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda II and the Water Sector Strategic Development Plan, which is ‘Sustainable Water and Basic Sanitation for All by 2025’.

He noted that to achieve this goal, government intends to improve urban water coverage, currently at 63 per cent to 76 per cent; as well as increase rural water coverage from 65 per cent to 76 per cent by the close of the year.

Alhaji Dauda said government realizes the importance of safe water delivery to the citizenry and to this end, government in partnership with development partners and other key stakeholders were making huge investments through the provision of new WASH infrastructure.

He said government was funding 20,000 borehole water supply project at the cost of GH¢ 17 million from the consolidated fund over a five-year period.

He announced that the World Bank was also supporting the government with $ 48 million to improve water service delivery within Greater Accra.

The Minister indicated that since 2009, government and development partners had invested over $ 750 million in the WASH sector.

He said the outcomes of these huge investments would not achieve the expected results if the services were not sustained.

“The time has come for us as a nation to move from one-off project-based approach to a more sustainable service approach that will last; therefore, investment in the sector should consider not just the provision of the facility but must incorporate the life cycle cost of the facility in the project design,” the Minister said.

He further appealed to district assemblies to include the cost of maintenance of projects put up by development partners to ensure their sustainability.

Mr Alban Bagbin, Majority Leader in Parliament, in a speech read on his behalf, said although the sector policy and standards had sustainability requirements, prior to Triple-S, it was acknowledged that the initiative provided the push and raised the awareness of sector stakeholders to understand and use the service delivery approach technology, representing a shift from only building systems to include building services.

Mr Clement Bugase, CWSA Chief Executive Officer (CEO), said the performance of Ghana’s water sector indicates that Ghana was on track towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal target for water, however, progress towards the achievement of the target for sanitation remains behind.

Dr Patrick Moriarty, IRC CEO said globally, Ghana is the jewel in the organization’s crown in terms of successes achieved in the WASH sector. He said it was the responsibility of government to ensure that WASH services were provided for the citizenry