TAMALE WATER EXTENSION PROJECT ON COURSE (PAGE 34, AUG 02, 2011)

THE Tamale Water Extension Project, which seeks to provide potable water to over 50,000 inhabitants of communities in and around the Tamale metropolis, is on course.
When the project is completed, inhabitants of some communities in the Tamale Metropolis, Savelugu-Nanton district and Tolon-Kumbungu district would have access to clean drinking water.
Implementers of the project, the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) and Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), claim that the project is 70 per cent within completion and that they are likely to meet the completion deadline in October.
Already, 72km of pipeline has been laid to 17 farming communities and the Pong Tamale treatment plant is in its final stages of upgrading.
The project, which is funded through the US$547 Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) compact, is being executed by Berock Ventures Ltd, whiles Gauff Ingenieure act as the consultant.
This would contribute significantly to sustaining the gains made in the eradication of guinea worm, which used to be prevalent in these areas.
As part of a working visit to the Northern Region, the Vice President, Mr John Dramani Mahama inspected work at one of the project sites and commended the engineers for working tirelessly towards the completion of the project.
He said failure to complete the project within schedule could have repercussions for the country, since the funding support for these projects would be withdrawn when the programme elapses.
The Veep observed that Ghana was selected to benefit from a second compact because it had done well with the utilisation of the first compact.
He said this was why the country must ensure that it delivers all the proposed projects as expected so as to enable it to keep benefiting from such initiatives.
The Chief Operating Officer for MiDA, Mr Matthew Armah, who briefed the Veep, said the water project came into fruition as a result of collaborative efforts between a number of key stakeholders who were eager to bring clean water and sanitation facilities to rural communities, particularly areas where guinea worm was endemic.
“MiDA found these efforts worth supporting because it would assist to achieve improved health, reduce the incidence of illnesses and the loss of productivity due to unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation,” he stated.
Mr Armah again noted that the water project formed part of MiDA’s Rural Development Activity, which seeks to provide supplementary facilities such as school infrastructure and electricity to rural farming communities that have already been selected for road infrastructure and agricultural support.
“These investments in social infrastructure will act as catalysts for accelerating agricultural production in the programme’s intervention zones,” he added.
The Acting Regent of Savelugu, Yoo-Naa Mahama commended the government for including Savelugu in the MiDA beneficiary districts, adding that the extension of water to the area was enough to bring joy to the people.