President outlines progress with multi-million investments in water supply

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has reiterated the government’s commitment to safe sanitation and hygiene along the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

He said his government held true to the pledge to deliver the SDGs and was a claim verifiable with numerous projects and initiatives spanning the various goals.

President Akufo-Addo was commissioning a water supply system for Adaklu and surrounding districts at Adaklu Waya on Monday, one of several such projects ongoing in the country to close out water scarcity.

The President listed water supply and expansion projects in eleven out of the 16 regions and which would relieve millions when completed, and said significant progress had been made.

“We are also committed to ensuring that we practice safe sanitation and hygiene by the year 2030, in line with the attainment of 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.

President Akufo-Addo noted how the ongoing Rural Communities and Small Towns Water Supply Project would help improve access to sustainable water in the Volta, Oti, Greater Accra, Ashanti and Eastern Regions, and with an estimated population of 282,000 to benefit.

He said the 30 million euros project was about 17 per cent complete.

The Government also has a Water for All programme for urban communities being implemented through the Ghana Water Company, and President Akufo-Addo said the Keta Water Supply Project, the most ambitious at over 85 million euros, would improve water reliability and sustainability for some 422,000 in the Keta enclave when completed in 2024.

He said the 39 million euros Wenchi Water Project of the Water for All programme would secure water needs in the area for more than two decades through the construction of a new water treatment plant and the rehabilitation of current ground water systems.

A 70-million euro Sekondi-Takoradi Water Supply Project is also ongoing to benefit some 1.4 million people in and around Secondi-Takoradi, and the President reassured of its 2025 completion.

The Government through the Community Water and Sanitation Agency, completed in 2020, several projects under a Water Supply Improvement Project, and which was being implemented as part of the Ghana Spain Debt Swap Development to benefit 75,000 in the Ho West, Agortime Ziope and South Dayi Districts.

The President, also in 2020, commissioned cluster water systems at Bontrase and Amasamkrom in the Central Region, realised under the Sustainable Rural Water and Sanitation Project (SRWSP).

The project’s USD 47.5 million credit facility from the International Development Association of the World Bank helped extend the crucial intervention to communities in the Ahafo, Bono, Bono East, Western, Western North, Northern, North East, Savannah, Upper West and Upper East regions.

A total of 164 communities in these regions received piped water systems, in addition to support for household latrine construction, and education on health and hygiene and the environment.

President Akufo-Addo also hinted on the progress of work on a proposed Sogakope-Lome Transboundary Water Supply Project, and said feasibility studies were at 98 per cent complete.

He said the Government would secure funding for the ambitious project which improve access to safe drinking water for four million people, including in Keta, the Ketu, Tongu and the Akatsi districts and municipalities of the Volta Region.

Madam Cecelia Dapaah, Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, said water scarcity was being tackled, and expressed gratitude to the President for his commitment.

The Minister said water coverage stood at 87.7 percent from the latest data in 2021, while sanitation coverage currently was at 80.8 per cent.

She said diseases such as cholera and dysentery had been “banished” by the President, and assured that the SDGs would be attained under his visionary leadership.

The water supply project the President commissioned at Adaklu project constitutes the third phase of the Five District Water Supply Project for which the Presidentcut sod in 2020.

It is benefitting 95 communities in Adaklu, Agortime Ziope and Central Tongu with a combined population of 89,150.

Madam Dapaah noted how water availability would support the sustainability of the businesses in the beneficiary districts, and charged all stakeholders including community members to help protect the resources.