President Akufo-Addo inaugurates US$6.6M sewerage & treatment plants

GHANA—In order to curb the scourge of waterborne and diarrheal diseases in the Greater Accra Area, the President of Ghana has commissioned two Simplified Sewerage Facilities & Treatment Plants at Ashaiman and Bankuman.

The two projects are under the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) Sanitation and Water Project, conceived as one of the pro-poor interventions to ensure the policy of “One-House-One-Toilet” is delivered across the Metropolitan Area.

GAMA has delivered some 48,641 improved household toilets, which have benefitted some 389,128 people as of December 2020.

In addition to this, 406 improved and modern disability-friendly, gender-sensitive institutional toilet facilities, benefiting some 251,872 school children have been completed, as of December 2020. 

Moreover, the complete works of the two new simplified sewerage networks comprising some 51kms of sewer lines, and a new wastewater treatment plant with a capacity of some 1800m³/day in Ashaiman, are to serve some 4,805 households in the community. 

Specifically, the plant in Bankuman has a capacity of about 1,600m³/day and to serve more than 3,100 households. 

Speaking at the ceremony, held at Ashaiman, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo noted that the two (2) projects were constructed at a cost of US$6.6 million.

The President mentioned that the projects reinforced the Government’s commitment to offer solutions to the infrastructural gap identified as one of the major challenges plaguing the sanitation and water resources sector. 

“The projects being commissioned today 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,” President Akufo Addo noted.  

The President acknowledged that Ghana had made significant strides toward the attainment of the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on water and sanitation.

Improving sanitation and quality of water for Ghanaians  

The GAMA Project has been so successfully executed that additional financing was sought and obtained from the World Bank to extend the intervention to the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area.

Under the additional financing, 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, respectively, in the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area.

The Kumasi Project will also expand and rehabilitate the 29-year-old Asafo sewerage system in Kumasi, providing an additional 12,000 household toilets and 30 institutional toilets in the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area. 

The first phase of the project will extend potable water, by laying some 120 km of pipelines, and providing 5,000 new service connections; establishing telemetry, and retooling the Ghana Water Company’s meter 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. Currently, access to basic drinking water services has increased from 79% of the population in 2017 to 87.7% in 2021” the President said. 

The President continued that access to improved toilet facilities, including public toilets, has also increased from 66% to eighty-point-eight percent 80.8% within the same period.

The Akufo-Addo 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 and are expected that some 5.3 million people will benefit from these interventions when completed.

Recognizing the huge resources required to provide, maintain, and sustain sanitation and water infrastructure across the country the Ghanaian government is in partnership with key stakeholders and the private sector for support in providing 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,” President Akufo Addo urged.

For all the latest healthcare industry news from Africa and the World, subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, and YouTube Channel, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, and like us on Facebook.