Ghana Water will not be sold - Hackman

Accra, March 16, GNA - No single water facility of the Ghana Water Company limited (GWCL) would be sold to any investor, the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang said on Thursday. He has therefore described allegations being peddled that Government was likely to sell out GWCL as untrue, false and baseless.

Mr Owusu-Agyemang who was inaugurating the re-constituted Board of the GWCL in Accra, indicated that steps were being taken to inject the Company with management experts to ensure effectiveness and that facilities would be under its control. He noted that Government was investing in the rehabilitation of the existing water facilities and to create new ones to enhance water delivery. About 530 million dollars is being put into urban water project to make water available at every tick of the clock. Mr Owusu-Agyemang said as access to water was a legitimate right of everyone, the rural communities were due to benefit from one trillion cedis investment packages, which formed part of the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS). He said to ensure the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) strenuous efforts were being made to make water available to 75 per cent of the population in the interim; while targeting to serve 85 per cent by 2015.

Currently a water treatment facility was under construction at the Kpone Water Works to provide about 40 million gallons of water daily and that the project would cost 40 million dollars, he said. Mr Owusu-Agymang charged the Board and Management of the GWCL to institute measures to collect debt owed it and possibly disconnect defaulters as the days when water was taken for gratis were over. The Minster urged the Board not to relent in their supervisory role and to as well as augment the effort of the Company to carry out the dramatic transformation already underway. The Board which is chaired by Mr Abdul Ramah Musah has Mr Richard Obiri Yeboah; Mr K. Amoa Gartey; Mr P. M. A. Pecku; Miss Sally Brentuo; Mr K Adjei-Addo; Mr K. Oppong and Mr S. G. O. Lamptey as members.