Public Agenda (Accra)
Patricia Ofori Atta & Haba Daramani
9 July 2007
Accra — The Community Mobilization Manager of World Vision, Mrs. Cecilia Ama Anderson says Ghana needs US$1.5 billion to meet its target of urban and rural supply of water.
"Estimated cost from the Ministry of Works and Housing indicates that government will need an estimated budget of US$1.5 billion towards the 85% proposed coverage for the urban, rural and small towns water supply," she stated..
Mrs. Anderson disclosed this at the public forum on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at Midpoint jointly organised by Ghana MDGs Campaign and YES-Ghana with support from the UN Millennium Campaign in Accra. The Theme for the programme was "The Millennium Development Goals: Is Ghana on track or off track".
According to her, the seventh MDG on water is quite explicit on the issue of access to potable water which demands that all interventions in the rural and urban water sector must ensure that half of the population without access to safe drinking water gain acceptable access.
She said these demands include an all year supply of water from sustainable sources, systems and facilities like pipe-borne water, boreholes, protected wells and overhead tanks where boreholes drillings have failed due to very low ground water supply.
Mrs. Anderson said data on the Ghana water supply systems as at 1990 to 2000 reveal that out of the 8.3 million people living in the urban areas only 40% households have access to pipe borne water.
She further revealed that unaccountable water due to illegal connections and other factors was estimated at 19% and it represents almost 50% of the given total output.
"This implies that the total volume of water supply is less than the actual demand," she disclosed.
She said Water and Sanitation Sector (WSS) expenditure framework is based on a mid-term expenditure framework while the requirements for meeting government's ambition for the WSS MDG target depends on annual budget releases thus creating a gap in resource allocation.
She said a survey conducted in the three most endemic guinea worm regions- the Northern, Brong Ahafo and Volta Regions- by the Ministry of Works and Housing revealed that the main causes to this water-borne disease were the breakdowns in water systems like boreholes and total lack of potable water in certain communities.
She said government is making efforts to reform the relevant institutions within the water sector to meet the country's vision and policies towards the MDGs.
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