President commissions $6.6m Ashaiman and Bankuman sewerage treatment plants
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Wednesday commissioned the ultra-modern Ashaiman Sewerage Facility and Treatment Plant, as well as the rehabilitated and expanded Bankuman Sewerage Plant.
The new sewerage networks in Ashaiman consist of 51 kilometres of sewage lines and a new wastewater treatment facility with a capacity of 1,800 cubic meters per day. It will service 4,805 households.
The Bankuman facility, with a daily capacity of 1,600 cubic meters, will also service 3,100 households in the area.
President Akufo-Addo stated at a brief ceremony in Ashaiman that the two projects, which cost $6.6 million, underscored the government’s commitment to delivering solutions to the infrastructural gap identified as one of the main issues facing the sanitation and water resources sector.
He noted that the two projects were instances of the many sanitation initiatives provided across the country.
“This magnificent, simplified sewerage system, as well as the rehabilitated Bankuman project, will inure to the benefit of the people living within the catchment areas of Ashaiman and Bankuman communities of Greater Accra.”
President Akufo-Addo stated that the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) Sanitation and Water Project, conceived as one of the pro-poor interventions to ensure the policy of “One-House-One-Toilet” is delivered across the Metropolitan Area, had delivered 48,641 improved household toilets, benefiting 389,128 people as of December 2020.
In addition, as of December 2020, 406 modern disability-friendly, gender-sensitive institutional restroom facilities benefiting about 251,872 pupils had been completed.
The President noted that Ghana had made significant strides towards the attainment of the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on water and sanitation.
Currently, access to basic drinking water services has increased from 79 per cent of the population in 2017 to 87.7 per cent in 2021.
“Access to improved toilet facilities, including public toilets, has also increased from 66 per cent to 80.8 per cent within the same period.
“The Akufo-Addo government is investing an amount of some $1.4 billion in several water and sanitation projects nationwide. Some of these projects have been completed, and others are still ongoing.
“It is expected that some 5.3 million people will benefit from these interventions when completed,” he said President Akufo-Addo told the audience that the government was working with other key partners and the private sector to build and maintain critical sanitation and water facilities across the country.
“I urge all of us to help sustain and improve the gains made so far by maintaining healthy environmental sanitation, protecting our water bodies and supporting the Clean Ghana Campaign,” he added.
Source: GNA