President John Agyekum Kufuor

President John Agyekum Kufuor has inaugurated the 45 million Euro Tamale Water Supply Rehabilitation and Expansion Project at Tamale in the Nothern Region.

He called on the people to guard it against miscreants who make illegal connections that has the potential to undermine the quality and quantity of water delivered.
     
President  Kufuor  in his speech asked the people to appreciate that the supply of clean water is expensive and capital intensive and that they should accept to pay their tariffs promptly.

He said government will put in place a regulatory framework to safeguard the interest of both service providers and consumers under the Public-Private Partnership Agreement in water delivery.

President Kufuor promised the people that  his government will not divest its responsibility to providing portable water to the people or privatise water supply in the country, as it is being speculated.

He called for unity and peace in Dagbon saying "For continued development there must be reconciliation. Anybody that will exploit the differences for political ends cannot be a true friend of Dagbon and indeed Ghana."     

Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, said it is only in the administration of the ruling government that a lot of investments has been made in the water sector.

He said with the provision of potable water to the Tamale Metropolis women and children will no longer have to travel long distance for water.
    
Alhaji Boniface further said that the lack of water which has discouraged many people from establishing industries in the Metropolis will now become a thing of the past.
    
Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Northern Regional Minister, appealed to traditional authorities to sensitise their people to desist from tampering with the water pipe lines and also urged them to pay their water bills regularly and promptly.
      
He commended the President for the bold initiative he took to tackle the perennial water shortage in Tamale and its environs.
     
Mr Bob Kotter, Regional Managing Director-Africa Biwater, commended the management of Ghana Water Company Limited and the workers for their co-operation in ensuring the successful completion of the project.

He said he was happy to note that there was no incident during the entire construction process and commended the workers for observing work regulations.
     
The project designed to provide 9.6 million gallons of water a day will serve a population of over 500,000 people in the Metropolis and communities including Pong-Tamale, Yoggu, Datoyili and Wamali.
    
It involved the expansion of transmission pipelines, construction of new treatment plant, a refurbishment of the old treatment facilities and a new 1.1 million underground water reservoir.

It took two years to complete the project that was executed with credit facility from the Dutch Government under the ORET/MILIEV Programme.   

Source : GNA
Posted : 29/11/08

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