GWCL seeks funds for phase II of Kpong Water project

THE Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) is negotiating a financing arrangement with the Exim Bank of China to fund the second phase of the Kpong Water Supply Expansion project.

The Managing Director of GWCL, Dr Clifford A. Braimah, who disclosed this in Accra last Tuesday, said $373 million was required for the project to increase the water supply capacity of the plant to 80 million gallons a day.

According to him, the current production of 40 million gallons a day was woefully inadequate and could not meet the increasing demand of consumers from the western part of Accra whom the plant served.

"The China Exim Bank said they can pay 85 per cent of the cost of phase two of the project so that the government also pays 15 per cent. We hope the Ministry of Finance will fast-track the arrangements because there is increased demand for water and we need that facility badly," he stressed.

Occasion

Dr Braimah stated this when he led a 15-member delegation from the Export-Import (Exim) Bank of China, the financiers of phase one of the project, to tour the facility as part of due diligence processes towards the funding of the phase II.

The China delegation was led by the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of China Exim Bank, Mr Yu Xuejun, and included the Vice-President of the China Exim Bank, Mr Sun Ping.

Kpong Water project

The first phase of the Kpong Water Supply project started in 2010 at the cost of $273 million. Parliament approved a $260 million preferential buyers credit agreement between the Government of Ghana and China through the Exim Bank of China.

The project had a designed capacity of 80 million gallons of water a day.

Former President John Mahama inaugurated the first phase of the project in December 2014, which resulted in the distribution of water to communities such as Adentan, Madina, Okponglo and surrounding areas which had experienced irregular water supply for the past 25 years.

Expansion

The expansion project has been on the drawing board of the GWCL for some time now due to lack of funds.

It includes the construction of four additional water pumps, distribution lines and the renovation of existing lines to improve services to both the under-served and unserved communities in that part of the city.

Dr Braimah explained that the increasing rate of the population in Accra had put more pressure on the GWCL to meet both domestic and industrial needs of the people.

He expressed the hope that funding would be approved for the phase II of the project to enable the company to meet the 80 million gallons capacity requirement in addition to the 53 million-gallon produced from the Weija Water plant to serve the people.