About 600,000 people in the Western, Central, Brong Ahafo, Eastern, Upper East and Western Regions are expected to benefit from the World Bank funded Small-Town Water supply Project in Ghana, before 2015.
Mr Joseph Jonah, an engineer of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), the implementing body, disclosed this at the launch of
the project at Supomu-Dunkwa in the Shama District of the Western Region.
He said that under the sanitation component of the project, household latrines for individuals and communities would be provided, to prevent indiscriminate defecation that causes diseases like cholera, dysentery and diarrhoea.
Mr Jonah said that the CWSA would construct 20 boreholes and stand-pipes, which individuals could connect to their homes in the Supomu-Dunkwa area.
He said that Government had scrapped the 5 per cent payment by beneficiary communities but they would bare the cost of maintaining the
facilities to ensure sustainable management.
Mr Jonah said the communities would be expected to own the project and monitor and manage the facilities.
Mr. Emmanuel Nkrumah, Water and Sanitation Specialist with the Ghana Office of the World Bank, said the Bank had voted 75 million dollars for the entire project.
He noted that sanitation had become a major problem in Ghana and called for community-led approach to ensure the successful execution of
the project.
Madam Emelia Arthur, Deputy Minister of the Western Region, said Government was playing a critical role in the provision of potable water to
the people, to promote development.
She said, consequently, Ghana Government had signed an agreement with the Spanish Government to treat sea water for domestic use in Ghana.
Nana Pansor IV, Chief of Supomu-Dunkwa, commended the Government of Ghana for initiating schemes to improve water delivery in the country and pledged the people’s support for the project.