World Bank, AfDB initiative moves to support urban water sector

Accra, Dec. 17, GNA - The World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have initiated discussions with the managements of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and Aqua Vitens Rand Limited (AVRL) on how to find a comprehensive and sustainable solution to problem facing urban water supply in Ghana.

Mr. Ishac Diwan, World Bank Country Director, told the GNA on Thursday that the World Bank had moved from the stage of exploring the possibility of supporting the sector to actually starting the process towards finding a lasting solution to the problems facing the sector. "We began a brainstorming session today, during which we identified specific areas where support will be needed to bring a more comprehensive solution to bear on the urban water sector," he said.


Mr. Diwan, however, pointed out that the AfDB's involvement was only at the exploratory stage. He said at the brainstorming session, it emerged that the main challenges facing the sector were those of inadequate water production, obsolete transmission and distribution systems and huge losses being made due to leakages and piracy.


The World Bank in 2006 provided a grant of $150 million to government of Ghana under which AVRL was competitively awarded a five-year management contract to help reduce loses in potable water and water revenue by 25 per cent. The AVRL contract would end in 2011, but the World Bank, by this new development, has indicated its continuous interest in supporting the sector in a more comprehensive manner.


Mr Diwan proposed that in order to deal effectively with the challenges, there was the need to map out a plan that would address them in parallel by working on the expansion of the production capacity, rehabilitation of the distribution networks and collecting of the revenue at the same time. "We can't do one without the other because, for instance, if we expand the production capacity and the distribution network is poor, the leakages and piracy (illegal connection) will continue and we will continue to lose money." He said the expansion of the water supply system had not been able to catch up with the fast moving residential and industrial development in the country.


Mr. Diwan said part of the problem was because the water production and supply plan of the country was last updated in 1990 and had outlived its usefulness. "There is the need to update that plan and enforce it in a manner to ensure that households are connected in an indiscriminate manner such that both the poor and rich areas have their water needs met equitably," he said. He said, while the World Bank was considering supporting the sector to deal decisive with its challenges, "we are also talking to private producers to come on board and augment the production from a number of deep wells discovered in Accra north to supplement what Kpong and Weija produces."


Mr. Diwan said private producers were also involved in the desalination of sea water project at Teshie. After the brainstorming session, the management of GWCL and AVRL took the officials of the WB and AfDB on a familiarisation and fact finding tour of the Kpong Water Works.

Mr. Charles Brobbey, the Production Manager at the Kpong Station, told the delegation that even though the plant took 53 million gallons of raw water a day, it produced 36 million gallons for both urban and rural Accra.


"We have made a proposal to AVRL to finance the construction of a separate pipe that will be connected directly from the uptake point to serve Accra rural so that the three main pumps will serve Accra directly. "When that happens we will be able to produce two million additional gallons of water and ensure that more water reaches Accra urban."


He said the cost of the construction of the new pipe was estimated at about one million dollars. Mr. Brobbey noted that currently Accra needed about 140 million gallons of water a day but the combined supplies from Kpong, Weija and other smaller sources only reach between 80 and 90 million gallons, leaving a shortfall of about 60 million gallons.


It is estimated that even if the current production and supply capacities were fully operational, only 60 per cent of the water needs of the capital city could be supplied in a day. Meanwhile the Chinese Exim Bank has expressed readiness to invest over $200 million into the expansion of Kpong headworks and raise its production capacity by at least 40 million gallons over the next five years.


But experts have forecast that within the next five years, the development expansion and population drift would have exhausted the expected 40 million gallons. It would therefore be better for the Chinese to consider making investment to double the figure to 80 million gallons.