$250 million to end Accra water crisis

True to its commitment to ensuring potable water for all Ghanaians, government’s plans are far advanced to invest at least $250 million into expansion works and rehabilitation of the Kpong treatment plant.

This investment is to ensure that the treatment plant built in 1950 has its capacity at least doubled from its current 50 million Gallons to a hundred gallons a day capacity, while it also sees to it that the current plant and the yet-to-be-built one operate at full capacity.

Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing Hannah Louisa Bisiw, who disclosed this to the FI (Financial Intelligence), added that, Government is considering various options available to it as sources of funding for the project and is just about to make a definite decision on them. According to her there are offers from private interests who would like to invest in Build, Operate & Transfer (B.O.T) systems as well as offers of grants and of loans which government is currently holding consultations on in order to make an informed decision.

“We are just on the verge of taking a firm decision, but we are awaiting advice from our financial and legal experts in order to determine which of the offers best suits the Ghanaian interest”, Dr. Bisiw disclosed, adding that the problem at Kpong is not only about doubling the current capacity but also to rehabilitate the old plant and bring it to full capacity.

“The government is well prepared to commit this funding into the project because it is the belief of the president that there is nothing more serious than not giving water to your people to drink”, she explained, with the assurance that government would also see to it that North-West interconnectivity is completed in due time to ameliorate the water needs of the people.

The deputy minister also informed this paper that in the interim government would prosecute the agenda of providing community based mechanised bore holes throughout the city of Accra so that people would have uninterrupted water supply while the expansion works are going on.

Dr. Bisiw who was speaking to the FI while on a working visit to the Waija area to acquaint herself with the water supply situation after a major pipe burst was reported from that vicinity a week ago and also appraise herself with the operations of the Waija treatment plant also tasked the Ghana Water Company (GWCL) officials to ensure that the burst pipes were repaired in record time to restore water supply to the people.

Acting Deputy Managing Director (Ag DMD) of GWCL Dan Adjetey Adjei also explained that since Waija is currently providing close to 60 million gallons of water currently all that needs to be done is for the infrastructure at Kpong to be expanded. According to him Waija cannot be expanded any more since that would bring about the overrunning of the dam.

He said the two plants at Kpong (Old Kpong serving Accra Rural and New Kpong serving the city proper) were built to produce a total of 50 million gallons, but are currently averaging about 37 million. This, he said is due to intermittent power cuts and the breaking down of one of the motors at Kpong. He therefore believes it is welcome news that government is going to take a final decision on the expansion works.

He said GWCL has also procured a new pump to replace the broken one so that at any given time three water pumps would be working while the other is on stand-bye.

He assured the public that even if government decides on the B.O.T, the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) would ensure that prices do not sky-rocket.

“They would be made to sell the water to the GWCL at a rate lower than that of PURC, so that we can also supply to the public at affordable rates. Ebenezer Gambrah, General Manager in Charge of Operations at Aqua Vitens Rand Ltd (AVRL) informed the Deputy Minister during the tour that human activities such as farming, tree felling and fishing and stone winning along the banks of the River Densu on which the waija dam is built is causing severe havoc to the water.

At the moment, Mr. Gambrah said there is the need for GWCL to find money to desilt the dam since so much debris has accumulated under it thus causing them not to have the real water levels required for their operations.