President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has commissioned a $6.6 million ultra-modern Simplified Sewerage Facility and Treatment Plant at Ashaiman and the rehabilitated and expanded Bankuman Simplified Sewerage Plant, both in the Greater Accra Region.
The two simplified sewerage networks, comprising 51kms of sewer lines and a new wastewater treatment plant with a capacity of 1,800m3/day) are to serve some 4,805 households in the community.
The plant at Bankuman in the Tema Metropolitan District with a capacity of 1,600m3/day, is to serve some 3,100 households.
Speaking at the commissioning ceremony at Ashaiman, President Akufo-Addo said the two projects reinforce the government’s commitment to offering solutions to the infrastructural gap identified as one of the major challenges plaguing the sanitation and water resources sector.
The President emphasised that the two projects are examples of the many sanitation projects that have been provided across the country.
“This magnificent simplified sewerage system, as well as the rehabilitated Bankuman project, will inure to the benefit of the people living within the catchment areas of Ashaiman and Bankuman communities of Greater Accra,” he stated.
President Akufo-Addo said the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) Sanitation and Water Project, conceived as one of the pro-poor interventions, is to ensure the policy of “One-House-One-Toilet” is delivered across the Metropolitan Area,
The project, the President maintained, had delivered some 48,641 improved household toilets, which have benefitted some 389,128 people as of December 2020.
In addition to that, 406 improved and modern disability-friendly, gender-sensitive institutional toilet facilities, benefiting some 251,872 school children have been completed as of December 2020.
The GAMA Project, according to President Akufo-Addo, has been so successfully executed that, additional financing was obtained from the World Bank to extend the intervention to the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area.
Under the additional financing, a total of 129 improved and modern disability-friendly, gender-sensitive institutional toilet facilities, as well as 30,000 household toilet facilities are under construction for beneficiary schools and individual households in the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area.
The Kumasi Project, President Akufo-Addo indicated, would also expand and rehabilitate the 29-year-old Asafo sewerage system in Kumasi and provide an additional 12,000 household toilets and 30 institutional toilets in the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area.
Component One of the Greater Kumasi Project, he added, would extend potable water, by laying 120 kilometres of pipelines and providing 5,000 new service connections; establishing telemetry and also retooling the Ghana Water Company’s metre shop to reduce non-revenue water.
“Ghana has made significant strides towards the attainment of the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on water and sanitation,” the President stated.
“Currently, access to basic drinking water services has increased from 79% of the population in 2017 to 87.7% in 2021,” he said.
Access to improved toilet facilities, including public toilets, President Akufo-Addo indicated has also increased from 66% to 80.8% within the same period.
“The government is investing an amount of some US$ 1.4 billion in several water and sanitation projects nationwide. Some of these projects have been completed, and others are still ongoing. It is expected that some 5.3 million people will benefit from these interventions when completed,” he stated.
Recognising the huge resources required to provide, maintain and sustain sanitation and water infrastructure across the country, President Akufo-Addo said the government is in partnership with other key stakeholders and the private sector for support to provide these vital services.
“I urge all of us to help sustain and improve the gains made so far by maintaining healthy environmental sanitation, protecting our water bodies and supporting the Clean Ghana Campaign,” he added.
