Coronavirus: Huge crowd of Teshie residents ‘fight’ for drinking water

Pictures of a huge crowd made up of residents of Teshie in the Greater Accra Region fighting one another in a bid to get access to good drinking water has hit social media.

The pictures, which showed the jostling crowd carrying buckets, gallons and containers, were first shared online by former Deputy Communication Minister Felix Kwakye Ofosu on his Facebook page.

He added the following message:

"These are disturbing pictures from Teshie showing people have to scramble for water. Meanwhile, there is a desalination plant constructed under the NDC government which can supply water to over 500,000 inhabitants within Teshie and beyond, which has remained closed since 2018. And this at time when strict hygiene practices need to be observed in view of the Coronavirus outbreak. Our citizens definitely deserve better."

Ghana has confirmed six cases of the COVID-19 as at March 15, with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announcing measures to curb the spread including suspension of public gatherings for four weeks and closure of universities, senior secondary and basic schools indefinitely.

In Teshie however, the large crowds were out to look for water to fetch.

This comes after water shortage hit The Teshie-Nungua areas following the closure of the Desalination Water Project.

The Teshie Desalination plant is also noted for some controversial contracts between the Ghana Water Company Limited and Befesa Desalination Development Ghana, which was reportedly costing the government an amount GHc6 million monthly.

Board Chairman of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Alexander Afenyo Markin said the shutdown was in the interest of Ghana.

The project involved the desalination of seawater at Teshie by Befesa Aqua of Spain implemented through a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) arrangement. The Project produced 13.2 million gallons of water daily to serve about 500,000 people in and around Nungua, Teshie, Burma Camp, Baatsona, Sakumono and parts of La-Dadekotopon and was completed in November 2014.