The Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo has cut the sod to pave way for the rehabilitation and expansion of the Sekondi-Takoradi Water Supply System to enable the plant to produce 22.2 million gallons per day.
The project which is costing Ghana 70 million Euros, when completed will serve about 42 communities within the Greater Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Area.
Speaking before the sod-cutting, Mr Osafo-Maafo hinted that the Government has secured funding for the 40 months construction project from the Austrian Government while Cabinet and Parliament have also approved the project.
He argued that the Nana Akufo-Addo led Government was committed to living up to its social responsibility by providing such indispensable services to the people of Ghana.
He noted that the region would be attractive to food and mineral processing companies when the project is completed.
Mr Osafo-Maafo who charged the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) to install water leakage detection systems to prevent loss of processed water across the country also charged the beneficiary communities to contribute their quota towards ensuring the sustainability of the facility by protecting the infrastructure through effective and regular maintenance.
He further called for sustainable use of water resources and urged the GWCL to install a water leakage detection system as part of the project.
Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah who accompanied the Senior Minister said the rehabilitation and expansion works were within Government’s policy to achieve the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goal of having access to potable water by all.
She assured that by the year 2030 all people living in Ghana will have access to safe potable water in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
According to her, it is proposed that the new 100,000 cubic meters per day conversional water treatment facility would be constructed to meet the current and future requirement of the beneficiary communities up to 2030.
Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, Western Regional Minister said the project is in line with Government’s recognition of the region’s water supply challenges and for that matter would help to reduce the water supply hardship to the over 800,000 people within Sekondi-Takoradi and its environs.
The Managing Director of GWCL, Clifford Brimah said the rehabilitation and construction would help the Company to reduce current rationing of water in the metropolis.
“In order to ensure that water is supplied to the majority of the people within the metropolis, GWCL had to rush water supply to selected areas on a daily basis and therefore this project upon completion will help to reduce the rationing”, he opined.
According to him, the installed capacity of the two plants (Daboase and Inchaban) after rehabilitation in 2004 became 45 thousand cubic meters per day and that is 99.9 million gallons per day, but the current average production due to some activities along the river banks is 30 thousand cubic meters per day thus, 6.6 million gallons as against demand of 90 thousand cubic meters per day.
Story: Seth Ameyaw Danquah
