210 boreholes to be sunk in Volta region

Ho, (Volta Region) 22nd July '99,

Two hundred and ten boreholes are to be drilled in the Volta region at a cost of 3.1 billion cedis under the Volta Region Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA).

Alhaji Seidu Iddi, Volta Regional Minister, who announced this on Monday said in Ho that the contract for the project has been awarded to four contractors to provide potable water for 63,000 people in the region.

This was contained in a speech read for him by Mr Kwesi Aboagye, Deputy Volta Regional Minister, at this year's mid-year review meeting of the CWSA.

The six-day meeting is on the theme ''Post delivery responsibility towards water and sanitation scheme''. It aims, among other things, at assessing their performance and prioritising strategies and review targets and budgets.

Alhaji Iddi said so far, 175,000 people had been served with potable water in the region and that an additional 30,000 people would be served by the end of the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) sponsored programme by 2003.

He entreated district assemblies to set aside part of their common fund for effective management of investment under the water and sanitation sector for sustainable delivery.

Alhaji Amadu Seidu, Deputy Minister of Works and Housing, said the post construction phase in water and sanitation delivery was of critical significance for the maintenance and sustainability in the sector.

He implored the CWSA to create the enabling environment for communities and other stakeholders to play their role as far as post delivery responsibilities are concerned.

Alhaji Seidu said although communities are responsible for the operations and maintenance under the CWSA national strategy "I believe strongly that communities must be provided with the needed support to enable them to meet the challenges of post delivery responsibilities".

He called on the meeting to consider the provision of adequate water points, pricing mechanism and monitoring quality to ensure that communities do not go back to untreated water sources to thwart efforts at eradicating water borne diseases.

Mr P.O. Sackey, acting CWSA chief executive, said CWSA was expected to construct 628 boreholes and rehabilitate 1,352 old ones.

The Agency will also sink and rehabilitate 661 hand-dug wells and 70 small towns pipe systems, while 2,750 household toilets would be constructed alongside 120 schools.

Mr Sackey announced that a board for the agency would soon be appointed to facilitate their work and called on the staff "to rise above the challenges of the time to justify the level of investment in the sector by donors and the government of Ghana".

GRi