More pupils benefiting from SFP in W/R

Some 53,328 school children benefited from the Ghana School Feeding Programme in the 2010/2011 academic year in the Western Region, Mr. Paul Evans Aidoo, the Regional Minister has said.

He said this when speaking on "The Better Ghana Agenda: The Western Region Experience" at the Regional Policy Fair at Essipon near Takoradi.

Mr. Aidoo said the figure represented an increase of 10 per cent over that of 43,000 pupils for the 2009/2010 academic year and that the number is expected to increase further by about 5 per cent due to the recent re-targeting and expansion of the programme for the 2011/2012 academic year.

Mr. Aidoo said the provisional figure for the 2011/2012 academic year is 118,576 pupils involving 276 kindergarten and primary schools in the region.

He said the implementation of the National Health Insurance (NHIS) has brought about significant improvement in the patronage of health service delivery in the region, saying a total of 1,338,160 people in the region had been registered for the NHIS with 269,000 people being registered in 2011 alone.

He said there has been marked improvement in the delivery of water in the region since the NDC government came to power and that the current average water demand for the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis is almost 12 million gallons a day while the Ghana Water Company is able to supply 6 million gallons.

He said the shortfall of over 6 million gallons must be addressed; he noted that pumps and other electro-magnetic equipment as well as civil structures have deteriorated due to old age and prolonged use.

To worsen matters, the Pra River has within the last couple of years been recording significant drops in levels, and flows during the dry season and production levels at Dabose has reduced to as low as between 40-50 per cent of its capacity, he said.

Mr. Aidoo said illegal gold mining and other human activities such as lumbering and farming being carried out along the Pra River and within its catchment area are resulting in high levels of pollution of the river and siltation at both the Daboase and Bosomase.

He said government has rolled out interventions to address the water supply situation in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis with the view to improving quantity, quality and reliability of water supply, adding that government has awarded a contract for improvements in operations at the Daboase Head Works.

He said a new 22 million gallon plant has been proposed for the Daboase Head Works to raise daily production from the current level of 6 million gallons to 28 million gallons.**