Samuel Atta Akyea – Minister of Water Resources Works and Housing
The construction company working on the Tono Water Treatment Plant project at Navrongo in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality of the Upper East Region, Daneys, has given the assurance that the work will be completed on time.
The contract for the Tono Water Treatment Plant was awarded in August 2019 and the project is expected to be completed in 2021.
When completed and handed over to the Ghana Water Company Limited to commence operations, it is expected to produce 20,500 cubic meters of water a day.
The water is to be distributed to communities in and around the Kassena-Nankana and Bolgatanga Municipalities, as well as the Bolgatanga East District.
The Project Coordinator, Annalies De Beule assured President Akufo Addo during his tour of the Upper East Region of the company’s commitment to meet the deadline for the project, adding that they will do a good engineering work that will last for decades.
According to her, the project, over a period spanning from 2021 to 2040 will end up serving over 200,000 people in the beneficiary municipalities and district with very good water mainly for domestic use.
The project is expected to have almost 100 kilometers of transmission line laid between the Kassena-Nankana and Bolgatanga Municipality and the Bolgatanga East District.
There will also be some elevated tanks in Navrongo in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality and Zuarungu in the Bolgatanga East District for water storage to ensure continuous flow of water.
Apart from the three beneficiary areas mentioned above, parts of the Bongo District and the Kassena-Nankana West District, as well as Nabdam District will also benefit, since they are all closer to the project’s main catchment areas.
The project is valued at $ 42 million and will be funded by the ING Bank of Belgium, the Dutch government and Ghana government.
The Managing Director of the Ghana Water Company Limited, Dr. Clifford Braimah, told President Nana Akufo-Addo that funding for the project was secured, but the process of releasing it has been slow and therefore delayed the release of money to hasten work.
He pleaded with the President to intervene to ensure that the release of funds by the Ministry of Finance was hastened to keep work on schedule.
The Tono Water Treatment Project is taking its water from the Tono multipurpose dam, the same place the Tono Irrigation Scheme is taking its water.
President Akufo Addo also inspected work on the on-going 30 million rehabilitation and expansion works on the Tono Irrigation Scheme Project also in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality.
When completed it is expected to provide water for 12 months of farming, a departure from the current trend of farming less than six months in the Upper East Region.
FROM: Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Tono