The Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin has vehemently rubbished and described as “shoddy work” the Tamale Water Rehabilitation and Expansion Project that was executed by past New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration to arrest the protracted water crisis in Tamale.
According to the Minister, residents of Tamale and its surrounding communities would face serious water crisis in 2013, if measures were not taken by the current government to correct the shoddy work and thus carry out another expansion works on the Tamale Water System.
The 45 million Euro project, which was awarded to Messrs Bi-Water BV, a Dutch based International firm between 2006 and 2008 was to increase water supply in the Tamale Metropolis from 4.4 million gallons a day to 10 million gallons. The Minister was particularly worried about quality of material and how they were installed and as a result of poor monitoring and supervision, there are currently some visible signs of deterioration.
Addressing some key stakeholders in the water sector in Tamale, Mr. Bagbin asserted that some of the huge pipes were supposed to be 2 feet beneath the ground, but in most of the areas that trenches were dug, they were not even up to one foot, thereby exposing most of the pipes.
He therefore announced that in the efforts to ensure quality work done by the government of National Democratic Congress (NDC), his Ministry had had plans to blacklist donors who executed shoddy works, at the expense of the Ghanaian tax payer but were paid huge sums of monies.
“In my mind I have already blacklisted some of those companies and will make sure anybody involved in those contracts are seriously taken on. I am saying this openly because it is the truth and I can assure that those who awarded those contracts and made the payments will also be taken on including those who did the monitoring,” he raised the alarm.
It would be recalled that the Tamale Water System was established in somewhere 1972 but subsequent breakdowns in most of the machines, saw the entire resident of the area suffering severe water crisis.
The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) therefore resorted to rationing of the water especially between 1996 and 2007, but most of the communities including Kobilmago, Kukuo, Nyohini, Datoyili, SSNIT and Russian Bungalows could not still access water sometimes for three or five months.
However, the Tamale Water Expansion Project which started in 2006 and completed in 2008 was aimed at supply 24 hour water to the people, but it also came with its own problems, as certain communities in the Metropolis are still faced with some water problem or shortages.
The problems, according GWCL officials are as a result of some frequent breakdowns in some of the machines at the water station.
Meanwhile, in view of the looming water crisis that is predicted to hit Ghana and some other African countries in 2030, government of Ghana according to Mr. Bagbin was currently rolling out comprehensive water project to significantly expand and upgrade all water infrastructures beginning from 2011.
He indicated that the issue of potable water accessibility in Ghana was nothing to write home about especially in the three Northern Regions, where about 58.97% of the rural communities have access to potable water.
He noted that, the government required over 89.1 million dollars to carry out rehabilitation and capacity expansion of 37,500 cubic meters to arrest the looming water crisis by 2025. The Minister said that his Ministry was in negotiation with the various funding bodies including Hapoalim Bank of Isreal, Hidrobiente Group, African Development Bank and two other Chinese Companies to provide funding for the projects.
Similar projects would be carried in Yendi and Damango to supply water to the people at the estimated cost of 28 million dollars and 15 million dollars respectively.
The Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing Mr. Bagbin hinted would from next year construct over 20,000 boreholes in 50 districts across Ghana of which 14 districts in Northern Region would be beneficiaries.
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