CAPE COAST WATER PROJECT COMPLETED (SPREAD)

The perennial water shortage that affects Cape Coast and its environs and sometimes leads to the interruption of academic work in second-cycle and tertiary institutions in the town will soon be over with the completion of the Sekyere Hemang headworks.
The scope of work at the new supply system, which taps water from the Pra river, involved the construction of a 30,000 cubic metres per day water treatment plant, laying of about 65 kilometres of water transport and distribution mains, construction of reservoirs and booster pumping station and the rehabilitation of the existing headworks at Brimsu.
The project is to improve water supply delivery in the Cape Coast area, especially Komenda, Elmina and Abrem Agona.
Other areas to benefit from the project include educational and health institutions, as well as the tourism industry.
Inaugurating the 40-million euro project, President John Agyekum Kufuor said since 2001, four out of the six major urban water systems planned for the Central Region had been completed.
The President said funding for the Assin Fosu water supply system was in the pipeline.
According to him, the project confirmed the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government's resolve to improve the quality of life of Ghanaians.
He underscored the need for clean and safe drinking water in the socio-economic development of mankind and said it was for that reason that the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing had issued a national water policy to serve as a blueprint for water supply delivery in the country.
President Kufuor reminded the people of the numerous development projects embarked upon by the NPP government and urged them to vote massively to retain it for more development.
He also asked them to remain focused and maintain the peace during and after the elections.
He commended The Netherlands government, the contractor, Messrs Ballast Nedam B.V., and the consultants, Messrs Royal Haskoning, both of The Netherlands, for executing the project.
The Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alhaji Siddique Boniface, advised communities within the project area to desist from polluting the river to ensure that the water from the treatment plant was clean and safe.
Earlier, the President had inaugurated expansion works on the Baifikrom water supply system.
He also cut the sod for work on the interconnection of Kasoa and environs to the Kwanyako water supply system.