Govt spends over GH¢233.9m on nationwide free water supply

The Government spent an amount of GH¢233,936,273.00 on a nationwide free water supply announced by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as part of the package put in place to combat the outbreak of the Coronavirus in the country.

The free water supply was for three months commencing from April and ending in June, 2020.

Taking her turn at the Meet-the-Press Series organised by the Ministry of Information, the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Mrs Cecilia Abena Dapaah said her outfit in collaboration with the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) supplied and installed a number of water tanks to various regions.

“These tanks were installed to supply water to the vulnerable and the poor across the various regions. Approximately, 750,000 people benefited from the free water supply intervention using the mounted water tanks across the country,” she added.

The minister saidexisting domestic customers of GWCL also enjoyed the three-month free water supply across the entire country. Water tanker services were also deployed across all the regions during the period.

Mrs Dapaah said government has also obtained 7.9million Euros soft loan from the Unicredit Bank of Austria to enhance the management of GWCL Water Supply network.

Under this facility, she said the GWCL would deploy the relevant application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Hydraulic software to provide spatial data asset register of all the operational units for engineering, planning and visual management, optimization of revenue through efficient billing and collection and more importantly, reduction of non-revenue water which would be centrally monitored.

According to her, the loan agreement for the project had been signed with work commencing on December 21, 2018 and is expected to be completed within 31 months,” she added.

Mrs Daapah said the ministry was currently preparing the Cabinet memorandum for the implementation of the Sunyani Water Supply Project which is estimated at €289, 984, 810, adding that government is in line to secure financing from the Swedish Export Credit Corporation.

Touching on the management of solid waste, she said the ministry, under the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development Project (GARID), had secured a parcel of land to construct an Engineered Sanitary Landfill and a Materials Recovery Facility in the Ga West municipality. In addition, two transfer stations will be constructed at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission and the Adentan municipality respectively.

“Two major dumpsites at Abokobi and Agbogbloshie (Old Fadama) will be capped. Expression of Interest (EOI) for Consultancy Services for Detailed Engineering Design (DED) and construction supervision for the landfill and capping components have been received and are being evaluated.

Mrs Dapaah said the ministry has also commenced the construction of 5,000 household toilet facilities within the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area under the GASSLIP.

She said the construction works are at various stages of completion, stating that it is anticipated that by the end of December 2020, all the facilities would have been completed which would benefit 50,000 people.