The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has said that it will drill and mechanize boreholes to augment river water supply for residents of Tamale and Yendi.
This comes at the back of delays in commencing a multimillion dollar water facility for Tamale and Yendi due to financial challenges.
The water situation in the Northern Region has been a huge challenge over the past decade.
In July 2020, President Akufo-Addo while on a working visit to the Northern Region, cut sod for expansion works on the Tamale and Yendi water projects.
According to the President, government has secured a credit facility amounting to 223 million, 287 thousand, 979 United States dollars, 56 cents (US$223,287,979.56) from the Indian Exim Bank and the Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch.
But four years down the line, the project is yet to commence.
A situation which has worsened the water crisis in the Greater Tamale metropolis and the Yendi Municipality.
On a field visit to assess the situation and improve water supply in Tamale and Yendi, Managing Director of Ghana Water Company Limited, Engineer Dr Clifford Braimah enumerated steps taken by the company to provide short to medium term solutions to the situation.
“The plan of government was to expand the Tamale and Yendi water projects through the two loan facilities but as you may all be aware, Ghana is facing financial crisis and running a debt exchange program with the IMF and so these banks will have to consider their risk factors before making any disbursement of funds that is what has brought us to this state on the water projects. But even as we wait for the banks to give us the go ahead to commence work, we at Ghana Water Company have also taken temporary measures to address the situation, “ he explained.
“In view of this, for Yendi, we are going to drill and mechanize some number of boreholes and dredge the Dakar River to improve access to water,” Dr Braimah assured.
He added that “we use to produce a thousand cubic meters of water a day, but now we do 1,600 and so we are hoping that when all these interventions are completed, we do three thousand cubic meters which I believe can supply Yendi and its environs.“
He appealed for the support of traditional authorities and assembly members to deal with issues of illegal connection which derails the company’s efforts at improving the water challenge.
“People are drinking our water for free without paying, which is affecting our revenue generation. We sink in money to treat the water and do repair works to ensure we supply water, but bad attitude of some of our consumers is derailing our efforts yet these same people will turn around to insult the company,” he bemoaned.
He further stated how Low voltage from Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCO) and failure of road contractors to fix broken pipes are affecting their operations.
“Road contractors burst our pipes every day without paying to fix them, which puts extra cost on the company. NEDCo is giving us unstable power which affects our machines. We are engaging all these stakeholders to see how we can collaboratively solve the issues,” the ECG MD stated.
Ya-Na Abukari
Welcoming the team from Ghana Water Company Limited, the King of Dagbon, Ya-Na Abukari reiterated his commitment to support every cause aimed at addressing the water challenge in the kingdom.
“I have always cried to the President on the water challenge in the Kingdom, but since you are in charge of water in the country, then I want to tell you that I will support you and your office to address the challenge, but you have to show more commitment since you are the mandatory body to give us good water,” Ya-Na demanded.
“I personally funded the dredging of the Dakar River two years ago and I want you to put in temporary measures to improve upon water supply as we all pray for the bigger project to commence,“ he added.
Salaga Water Project
While in Salaga, Engineer Dr. Clifford Braimah appealed to the chiefs and people of the area to appreciate the efforts of the company for migrating the Salaga water system from the Community Water and Sanitation Department, which was managed by the Assembly, to the Urban Water Unit, which is managed by Ghana Water Company.
“When we took over the Salaga Water System in 2017, the light bill alone was 500,000 cedis but today Ghana water has cleared the debt, changed all the pipelines, constructed a booster station at Nkwanta, constructed a head pump in Kpembe and expanded our reach and today every area gets water,” he noted.
“The challenges are still there but we deserve commendation for the current state of the water situation,” Dr Braimah said.
Kpembewura Banbagne Ndefeso IV, overlord of the Kpembe Traditional Area, on behalf of the chiefs and people of the area expressed gratitude to the water distribution company for improving the water situation.
“We grew up to witness serious water crisis in this traditional area, but thanks to you and your team, today, we get water flowing through our taps at least once a week.
“We know how you effortlessly prioritize water supply for the people and we can only pray for you and your company and wish you well,” the Kpembewura said.