Akufo-Addo cuts sod for €85m Keta water expansion project

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has cut sod for the rehabilitation and expansion of the Keta water project located at Agordomi in the South Tongu District of the Volta Region at a ceremony that formed part of the President’s one day tour of the region.

The €85 million project which is expected to be completed in 3 years would provide clean drinking water to communities in the South Tongu and Anlo Districts including the Keta Municipality.

In March this year, the Parliament of Ghana approved a total of €97.184 million credit facility agreement between the Government of Ghana and the Deutsche Bank, supported by the Italian Export Credit Agency to finance the expansion and rehabilitation of the Keta Water supply system.

The project is expected to bring to an end, a decade’s long water problem facing many communities along the Keta Lagoon including Sogakope, Atiavi, Dabala, Anloga, Anyako, Tegbi, Woe and Keta among many others.

The project which has been awarded to an Israeli company, Lesico Infrastructures S. R. L is expected to add 35,000 cubic meters of water per day to the production capacity of the existing water system of 7,200 cubic meters per day.

Addressing the ceremony, the President noted that his government remains committed to promises it made to the Ghanaian people in its 2016 manifesto while stating that, “government is not relenting in its effort to guarantee access to water for all Ghanaians, no matter where they may be.”

Touching on the project, the President said, “...government has decided to provide a befitting water supply system to ensure a reliable supply of potable water to meet the water demands of Keta and its environs and the rapid development of the area and the region.”

“The project involves the rehabilitation and the expansion of the existing Keta water treatment plant to restore its full capacity of 7,200 cubic meters per day and also the construction of a new water treatment facility to the capacity of 35,000 cubic meters per day to meet current and water requirements of residents up to the year 2030,” he added.

The President while in the region used the opportunity to speak on the brouhaha that greeted the deployment of the military into the Volta region during the just ended voter registration exercise.

According to him, the deployment of the military to the country’s borders was a nationwide exercise meant to protect the country against potential terrorism threats rather than the claim that it was an invasion of the Volta region.