President Mahama inaugurates water project for Teshie-Nungua, surrounding communities
President John Dramani Mahama officially opened the valves for freshwater to flow from the country's first desalination plant to serve the residents of Nungua in Accra Friday.
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Situated close to the Atlantic Ocean, the Accra Water Desalination Project turns saltwater into freshwater using filtration and reverse-osmosis membrane technologies.
The plant will produce 13 million gallons a day to serve about 500,000 people in its catchment area of Nungua, Teshie and surrounding communities.
The $126 million public-private partnership (PPP) facility, which is also the first of its kind in West Africa, was constructed by Spanish firm Abengoa, in conjunction with Sojitz of Japan and Hydrocol of Belgium.
Managers of the facility, Abengoa, is selling the desalinated water to the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), under a 25-year-build, operate, own and transfer (BOOT) system for distribution to households and businesses.
Over the years, the government had been working to find a sustainable, long-term water supply to meet the expanding urban water demand across the country.
Sections of Teshie and Nungua, for instance, have had inadequate water supply for 25 years.
Testing of the quality of water produced over the last two years has proved positive.
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Worldwide, about 230 million depend on desalinated water daily.
Celebration
President Mahama said the project had improved water supply to customers of GWCL and would help address the perennial cholera that had plagued the people of the area.
He said the solution to the Nungua water problem had eluded the country in the past and commended the companies that took up the project as well as the GWCL for coming up with the idea.
He said the government had spent more than $1 billion on water supply in different parts of the country and had now achieved 76 per cent of water access in Accra.
The President said the government was planning phase two of the Kpong Water Treatment Plant to add the production of another 40 million gallons a day.
He indicated that following a plan to achieve universal water coverage by the end of the year, various water projects had either been completed or were ongoing.
"The struggle with yellow jerrycans and numerous poly tanks have been reduced in many communities," President Mahama said.
He asked home owners who were unable to receive water through their taps in newly connected areas like Adenta and Teshie-Nungua to contact the GWCL as some of the lines had rusted due to years of neglect.
He also asked customers to pay their bills to ensure the continuous flow of water.
Abengoa official
The Director in charge of Industrial Relations at Abengoa, Mr German Bejarano, said the project was a perfect example of the company's quest to tackle water scarcity in areas faced with the problem.
Climate change, he said, was threatening water sources in Africa and that demanded prudent action from governments to face up to the challenge.
The Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Dr Kwaku Agyemang-Mensah, said the government was earnest about the quest to work on the water challenges in the country.
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He, therefore, urged the people to have confidence in the President as he fulfilled his electoral promises.
Nungua Mantse
The Nungua Mantse, Nii Odehe Kpakpa Odaifio Welenchi III, condemned people who were spreading false information that the water produced from the plant was not good.