Community hails completion of water project

The completion of a small town water project at Dampong in the Asante-Akim South District has brought huge relief to the people in this predominantly farming community, after years of struggle with safe water supply.

The project was implemented by the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) with counterpart funding by the assembly and the beneficiary community. Ninety-five per cent of the construction cost was borne by the CWSA whilst the assembly and the community bore the remaining five per cent.

Madam Akua Afriyie, a farmer and mother of five, summed up their joy when she described the project as “a dream come true”. She told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that this had been a most felt-need and that they had, for decades, been forced to rely on hand-dug wells and streams, which often dried up during the dry season.

They would walk long distances in search of water and she said that adversely affected not only their farming activities but the education of their kids with many of them getting to school late. “We are indeed grateful to the Government and the assembly for the intervention,” she said.

The GNA had visited the community under STAR-Ghana’s sponsored media auditing and tracking of development projects, an initiative to put a spotlight on how government’s resources were helping to improve the quality of life of the people, particularly the rural population.

The goal is to aid transparency, promote accountability and good governance. Mr De-graft Forkuo, District Chief Executive, said providing access to clean and safe drinking water was one of the key priorities of the assembly.

He said less than five per cent of the district’s population presently had problems with water and he promised to tackle that to prevent water-borne diseases and ensure good health.