Water: No Privatisation, Says Prez Kufuor

President John Agyekum Kufuor, says the government does not intend to privatise water supply in Ghana as is being speculated.

He explained however, that since the government recognised the capacity of the private sector in assisting to improve the supply of water to communities, it had decided to work in partnership with the sector to facilitate the supply of water to the people.

To sustain this partnership, Mr Kufuor explained that the government was putting in place a regulatory framework that would safeguard the interests of both the service provider and the consumer.

The President was speaking at the inauguration of the Tamale water supply, rehabilitation and expansion project in Tamale yesterday.

The €45-million Tamale water system will improve the reliability and availability of water supply to the metropolis and its environs.

The project involved the duplication of transmission main pipelines, rehabilitation and refurbishment works at the existing treatment plant at Dalun and the construction of a new treatment plant.

The Dutch and Ghana governments jointly funded the project, while Messrs Biwater B.V. of the Netherlands executed it within the stipulated two-year period.

Following the successful completion of the project, 9.6 million gallons of water a day could be produced to meet the demand of the growing population to the year 2020.

The current plant production capacity is 4.3 million gallons, which is being rationed to meet only 43 per cent of the current demand.

The President said since assuming office in 2000, the government had lived up to its promise to expand the delivery of social services, particularly water.

"We view water as life," he said, adding that it was for that reason that small dams, boreholes and a number of major water systems had been rehabilitated and expanded to boost agriculture and also meet the increasing demand of the growing population in the country.

Mr Kufuor mentioned the Baifikrom, Cape Coast and the Accra Loop projects that would link the Weija Water Works to that of Kpong to enhance the delivery of water in the area as some of the water projects the government had undertaken since 2000.

President Kufuor described the project as a landmark and one of the most important contributions of the government to the uplift of Tamale.

He also mentioned the construction of the stadium, upgrading of town roads, street lighting, student hostels and the rehabilitation of the airport as some of the other significant projects embarked upon by the government for the metropolis.

Mr Kufuor later cut the sod for the construction of a modern Jubilee market complex at Kukou, a suburb of Tamale.

The acting Managing Director of the Ghana Water Company, Mr Kweku Botwe, appealed to the people to be supportive of their cause to improve on the water supply situation in the metropolis by paying their bills and also by helping to safeguard the equipment at all times.

The Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alhaji Boniface Abubakari Saddique, commended the president for his personal commitment and support in the realisation of the project.

The Managing Director of Bi-water Company in Africa, Mr Bob Kottler, said his staff would stay over for the next one year for the second phase of the project that would include water supply to deprived communities.

Story by Nehemia Owusu Achiaw
& Zakaria Alhassan