Sunyani Water Expansion Project to cost US$243 million plus

The proposed Sunyani Water Supply Expansion Project would cost US$243,450,038.87, Mr. Hanson Akutteh Mensah, of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), has announced.

Mr. Mensah, who is the Brong-Ahafo Regional Water Quality Assurance Manager, was making a presentation at a public hearing programme on the potential environmental impacts of the proposed project at Abesim, near Sunyani, particularly, on the number of persons, and communities.

The programme, jointly organized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the GWCL provided an opportunity for the proponent to present the proposed project, potential impacts and mitigation measures and to address key public concerns that might be raised by the affected communities and experts.

The GWCL has signed a contract with Messrs China International Water and Electric Corporation towards the execution of the project while Sal Consult, an environmental engineering consulting firm in Accra, is the Consultant.

It would be funded by the Government of Ghana with a loan from Eximbank of China.

Mr. Mensah said the project would take 38 months to complete, but the commencement and completion dates were not yet known because it was still at the feasibility studies stage.

He said the GWCL supplied potable water to the Sunyani Municipality and 16 other surrounding towns and villages in the Sunyani West and Tano North Districts.

The system, built in 1962 and only rehabilitated in the late 1990s, was serving a population of over 225,000 in the Sunyani area and the neighbouring towns, he said.

He explained that, it could not meet the demand today because of the increased population.

Mr. Mensah stated that per demand projections, the Sunyani service area was expected to increase from the current estimate of 16,000 cubic metres a day to nearly 44,000 cubic metres by 2030.

He however noted the existing plant had a production capacity of approximately 7000 cubic metres, which was unable to meet even the current demand.

The significant expansion of the water treatment facilities, he said, was needed to meet both current and future water demands.

A dam would, consequently, be constructed over the Tano River at a location close to the present treatment plant at Abesim, near Sunyani, Mr. Mensah said.

The dam would also have a total length of about 1,106.6 metres and a height of about 19 metres with the construction of a new 47,000 cubic metres a day conventional water treatment plant, among other features.

At the ensuing forum, Oboaman Bofotia Boa-Amponsem II, ‘Kurontihene’ of Sunyani, lauded the project as being ‘very good and significant’ to enhance the lives of people in the beneficiary towns and villages.

He nevertheless emphasized the provision of adequate compensation, resettlement packages, access roads, electricity and livelihood empowerment programmes to economically empower the affected persons to live meaningful lives.

Oboaman Bofotia also asked that training be given to prospective compensation recipients to know how to invest their monies into profitable business ventures, “Otherwise many might misuse theirs in no time and tend to blame the government for inadequate compensation.”