More communities in UER to get good drinking water

Bolgatanga (UE) Feb.24, GNA- Mr Mark Woyongo, Upper East Regional Minister, on Thursday urged Municipal and District Chief Executives in the region to consider their mandate and roles as crucial to the implementation of Government policy. He therefore asked them to diligent and steadfast in their official endeavours.

Mr Woyongo was launching of the Ghana Sustainable Rural Water and Sanitation Project (SRWSP) in Bolgatanga. He said most communities in the Region were in need of water and anything done to sabotage the execution of water projects would brand District and Municipal Chief Executives as enemies of the people. He said in fulfillment of the Better Ghana Agenda which aimed at improving the lives of the people, their respective roles would give full meaning to the path of the Action Year promised the people of Ghana. He said feedback from the Community Water and Sanitation Agency's He= ad Office indicated that the general performance in the just ended Small Town Water Supply and Sanitation Project (STWSP) was not encouraging and urged all to ensure good practices, proper financial management, transparency and good governance.

The six-year project which is composed of the provision of rural and small town water supply, rural and small town integrated sanitation and hygiene, and institutional capacity building and management for six regions, seeks to ensure water supply and sanitation services in rural and small town communities.

The Upper East Region has a share of 4.85 million dollars out of 7.5million dollars which would be used to supply rural and small towns' water, focusing on boreholes fitted with hand pumps for communities with population of 1,200, whilst a population of up to 1,500 would benefit from a medium sized water supply system based on mechanized boreholes. Mr. William Nyarko, Water and Sanitation Engineer, said to ensure that rural and small towns attained and sustained open defecation free status, the rural and small town integrated sanitation and hygiene project would carry out activities geared towards awareness creation to ensure a long ter= m behavioural change. He said though the project was sequel to the ongoing small town water and sanitation projects, the Regional Coordinating Councils (RCC) would monitor, coordinate and evaluate projec ts and performance of the district assemblies to ensure accountability.

Ms Fati Mumuni, Extension Services Specialist of Community Water Sanitation Agency (CWSA), outlined the roles and responsibilities to be played by stakeholders such as the RCC, CWSA and the District and Municipal Assemblies.

She explained that beneficiary communities should have been water-poor with high incidence of water borne disease within districts with the capacity to handle such projects.