info@businessghana.com
The Upper East Region has achieved 63.96 per cent coverage in rural water coverage, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), Aloysius Adjetey, has disclosed.
He said together with the feat chalked up as at the end of December 31, 2023, the percentage of coverage in underserved communities now stands at 36 per cent.
Mr Adjetey made these disclosures in a speech read on his behalf at a durbar to commemorate the 25th anniversary celebration of the CWSA in Chiana in the Kassena Nankana West District.
It was on the theme: “25 years of sustaining WASH services: Transforming rural and small-town water services delivery towards national development”.
He noted that since the launch of the National Community Water and Sanitation Policy (NCWSP) in 1994, significant achievements had been made in the water and sanitation services sector in the region.
He said about 3,729 boreholes fitted with hand pumps, 543 hand-dug wells fitted with hand pumps and 83 pipe systems classified under limited mechanised systems and large-scale pipe systems had been constructed for communities in the region.
He stressed “such huge investments in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector in the region have led to an increase in the region’s rural water coverage from 24 per cent in 1990 to 64 per cent in 2023”.
He added that the CWSA was able to facilitate the installation of 8,519 household latrines and 247 institutional latrines throughout the region to boost the health and well-being of the people.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Stephen Yakubu, said access to safe water and sanitation were the most basic human rights and necessity around which every facet of development evolved.
He stated that WASH remained a critical social good with economic value, hence an enabler of development, adding: “it is in recognition of this fact that the government through the Ministry of Water and Sanitation is championing the vision of everyone, everywhere in Ghana to clean WASH services by 2030”.
He entreated all stakeholders to provide the needed leadership and support required for community ownership of WASH systems for enhanced delivery and further expressed gratitude to all institutions for their dedication to the cause of ensuring access to clean water and sanitation in the region.
The District Chief Executive of the area, Gerard Ataogye, said the CWSA had constructed small town water systems in four major towns, namely Paga, Chiana, Katiu and Sirigu, appealing to the CWSA to expand the water systems to benefit more people.
In a welcome address, the Paramount Chief of the Chiana Traditional Area, Pe Ditundini Adiali Ayagitam III, lauded the CWSA for the provision of safe water for the people and urged them to come up with innovative ways to collect revenue from the users, to pave the way for the expansion of its services to many communities in the region.
He appealed to the government to resume the construction of the Chuchuliga-Chiana-Tumu Road project to bring relief to the users of that stretch of road.
