37 Towns benefit from water project

Pg 55. Thurs. May 08/08

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
THIRTY-SEVEN selected towns within the Eastern and Volta regions have benefited from a 10-year community water project provided by the government and its German counterpart.
The project, which began in 1998, will end in June this year and has so far benefited more than 250,000 in the two regions.
Known as the Eastern and Volta Regions Assisted Project (EVORAP), it is designed to assist selected small towns to operate and manage their water supply systems and to improve their sanitation conditions.
The German Development Co-operation through two development agencies, the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ) and Kfw, another German development agency, provided financial and technical support for 29 of the small town projects while it partnered the Department for International Development (DFID) UK, to provide water supply and management support to eight additional towns.
Collectively all the households in the 39 project communities paid five per cent of the cost while their district assemblies also contributed five per cent.
At a workshop in Accra yesterday to evaluate the achievements of the project and to chart a way forward for future projects, the Counsellor for Development Co-operation of the German Embassy, Mr Joachim Schmitt, commended the Government of Ghana for showing considerable commitment to providing access to safe drinking water, as well as improving the sanitation conditions for all Ghanaians with special emphasis on the poor and vulnerable.
He said his government was pleased to be associated with the efforts at improving sustainable access to water, improved sanitation conditions and HIV and AIDS awareness creation in the country.
According to him, the German Government does not only focus on infrastructural development but also provide technical assistance, to build the capacity of implementing structures for sustainable operations and management of projects.
“We believe that it is only through empowering the people to manage the system that sustainable access to water supply and improved sanitation conditions can be realised.”
The Chief Executive Officer of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CSWA), Dr Phillip Gyau-Boakye, said with the huge investment that had been made, it was important for the beneficiaries to bear in mind that access to safe water supply could only be improved and sustained if existing facilities were kept in good working conditions.
He said to overcome the challenge of systematic sustainability through effective operation and maintenance, “it is imperative that we work towards the development of capacity at the district and community levels for the management of these facilities”.
Dr Gyau-Boakye further emphasised that it was imperative that people at both the regional and district levels became proactive in ensuring that all water and sanitation installations at the community level were operated and managed in a sustainable manner.