I will sleep a happy man when water shortages end - Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama has expressed satisfaction at works at the Kpong Water Plant which when completed is expected to solve the perennial water shortages in some areas in Accra.

He paid a working visit to the Kpong Water plant and called on the workers to speed up with works on the plant in order to meet set deadlines.

“There is a huge demand for water both for domestic and industrial purposes so we need to keep ahead the growth in demand. I am sure that this project, if we do phase one, bring in another 40 million gallons, we should immediately start working on phase two to increase to 80 million gallons.”

He stressed that the rate at which the city is expanding, “if we don’t keep one step ahead, then always we will have problems with shortage. I can’t wait for this to come on stream because traditionally water starved areas in the city… and if this problem will be solved that permanently, I will sleep a very happy man,” the president said.

He also made a stop at the Weija plant to inspect the facility and promised government’s support to the Ghana Urban Water Limited (GUWL) to address current pressing challenges at the Weija Water treatment plant.

The Managing Director of the GUWL, Senyo Amengor indicated that repair works on the filters are ongoing with one of them expected to be in full use within 28 days.

President Mahama described the service being rendered to Ghanaians by the water company as critical saying “it is said that water is life and without water, no human being can exist and so the function that you provide for Ghana is the most critical function.”

He encouraged the workers to “do your work with happiness and produce so that Ghanaian people can have the benefit of the product that you give them.”

The President mentioned that he is well aware of the challenges the company is facing but promised to closely work together with them to solve the challenges.

“I’ve seen the problems with the filters and all that; we are going to work and fix the filters. This plant I am told is capable of producing 54 million gallons of water. We should be able to produce the maximum of 54 million gallons because Accra is a growing city.”

He also promised that the government will collaborate with company to cut the wastage in the system by improving on their transmission lines and others.