Some 282,000 people in five regions will benefit from a €30million Rural Communities and Small Town Water Supply Project (RCSTWSP) in the country.
The project will see 90,000 rural communities and 192,000 small towns in the Ashanti, Eastern, Greater Accra, Oti and Volta regions benefitting.
It is expected to bring to the beneficiary communities, maximisation of social and health benefits mainly within the small and medium enterprises, manufacturing and rural enterprise sectors as espoused in the One-District-One-Factory industrial policy of the government.
It is financed by Her Britannic Majesty’s Secretary of State, acting through the Export Credits Guarantee Department (operating as UK Export Finance) and HSBC Bank plc under an export credit financing structure.
Speaking at a sod-cutting ceremony for works to begin at Akramaman in the Ga West Municipality, the Minster of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, noted that the project would bring about safe, increased coverage in affordable and reliable water supply, reduction in water borne diseases among other things.
She said that the project has been designed to improve rural water delivery and would construct 150-point sources and 12 Small Town Water Systems to serve 588 communities across the five regions.
The Minister told the gathering it considered Aqua Africa limited, a UK private sector entity, to handle the project because of its unique technology and approach to rural water delivery.
“To ensure the sustainability of the water supply systems, the project will provide environmental and social safeguard interventions, select communities, promote community engagement and sensitize, as well as train Water System Management Staff,” Madam Dapaah said.
Project scope
The main components of the project are the Point Source Nano-Filtration Systems which will provide point source Nano-filtration systems to 150 communities in areas where the water source is contaminated. Each system is expected to provide safe water to 600 people on average, resulting in safe water provision for 90,000 people.
To provide both piped water to households and public standpipes in 12 small towns. Each system will comprise photo-voltaic power for the pumping system, which will take water from water sources and anti-bacterial storage tanks.
Water will be distributed from the central system to smart meters at each household and to the public standpipe locations. It is expected to serve a small-town with an average population of 16,000.
Madam Dapaah therefore called for cooperation between the contactor and resident for the successful completion of the project.
“I wish to appeal to the Contractor, to ensure that the project is completed within the specified period and in accordance with the project specifications. I also want to direct the contractor to employ skilled and those who can work in the communities where the projects are being implemented in line with the job creation agenda of government,” she advised.
Other interventions
Touching other water projects undertaken by the government the Minister disclosed that President Nana Akufo-Addo has commissioned completed rural water supply projects, in 11out of the 16 regions of the country, financed from a Credit facility from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank at $47.5million.
The beneficiary regions are Central, Ahafo, Bono, Bono East, Western, Western North, Northern, North East, Savannah, Upper West and Upper East.
According to her, other rural water projects that have been commissioned is the Water Supply Improvement Project (WSIP) implemented in the Ho Municipal and three Districts of the Volta Region namely, Ho West, Agotime Ziope and Adaklu-Anyigbe and it is funded through a grant from the Kingdom of Spain/Republic of Ghana Debt Swap for Development Programme at a cost of $3.78million.
“President Nana Akufo-Addo has cut the sod for the commencement of the construction of Phase III of the four Constituencies Water Supply Scheme, also known as STRABAG, for Central Tongu, Adaklu Anyigbe, Agotime-Ziope Districts and Ho Municipality a rural water supply system. The construction of Phase III of the project would provide potable water to the unserved 52,657 people in the remaining beneficiary communities,” she said.