Asuogyaman Assembly Votes ¢15.9 billion For Water

THE Asuogyaman District Assembly has earmarked ¢15.9 billion to drill 27 boreholes fitted with pumps to provide potable water for eighteen communities in the district this year, under a Danish Internaternal Development Agency (DANIDA) and Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) programme.

'It is the desire of the Assembly to ensure that communities in the area which do not have access to potable water are taken care of within the shortest possible time.

'Proposals have been submitted to DANIDA and CWSA for consideration,' the District Chief Executive (DCE), Emmanuel Ntow-Bediako, told the Times in an interview at Atimpoku on Monday.

He said, already five boreholes fitted with pumps have been constructed for Abume, Adjena Dornor, Sapor Yiti and Sedom communities while additional ones are being drilled in the Mateko, Yeniama, Okodorm, Amantra, and Dameabra as well as Mpakadan quarters and Apeguso Secondary School.

Mr Ntow-Bediako stated that the cost of drilling a borehole and the pump is ¢70 million out of which the beneficiary community is required to contribute ¢2.5 million as counterpart funding under the DANIDA/CWSA project conditions.

He therefore appealed to the Assembly members whose communities have enjoyed the facilities to impress upon them to promptly pay their share of the cost of the projects to ensure their early completion.

'The payment of these moneys towards the project would send positive signals to our development partners that we are prepared to contribute our quota to whatever assistance they offer,' he stressed.

He however expressed concern about the failure of a number of communities to pay their share of the counterpart funding towards the facilities provided them and said 'the defaulting communities will be blacklisted and therefore not enjoy any facility under similar package in future.'

The DCE urged communities in the area which have been earmarked to benefit from the Small Town Pipe System to begin mobilizing funds for the payment of their share of the counterpart funding towards the implementation of the project.

According to Mr Ntow-Bediako, the district is benefiting from three projects under the Community Rural Development Projects (BRDP) which is aimed to facilitate the development of the various districts. The projects include the construction of three unit classroom block an office and store for Asikuma JSS, a six classroom blocks with an office and store for Manya-Yoyim Primary School and the construction of a Community Health Institutional Projects (CHIPS) centre at Tortibo, valued at about ¢1.1 billion.

On the implementation of the European Union Micro projects in the district, he said, all the necessary arrangements had been put in place to ensure the commencement of work on seven projects in some selected communities at a cost of ¢1.2 billion.

The project s include construction of community clinics at Apeguso and Osiabura; construction of 16-seater vault chamber toilets at Asikuma, Senchi and Nnudu, construction of three unit classroom block, an office and a store for Akwamu West Primary School, construction of culverts at Atimpoku and construction of a warehouse for the Assembly.

He explained that under the conditions associated with the project implementation, the beneficiary communities contribution of 25 per cent of the total project cost is supposed to essentially in the forms of providing communal labour, water, sand and stone.