Parliament of Ghana
Parliament has approved a loan facility of €233,963,928 (€233.9 million) for the provision of potable water for the Tamale Metropolitan Area and its environs.
The project which would involve the design and construction of a new water system at Yapei would also have an additional funding of commercial loan of 43 million Euros.
The Chairman of the Finance Committee, Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah, who presented the committee’s report before the approval of the loan, said that the government decided to construct a new water treatment and system to complement the Dalun Water Treatment Plant to provide the flexibility of having two different water systems which would increase reliability of water supply and to help cover more areas surrounding the Tamale Metropolitan Area.
According to the Finance Committee chairman, the new treatment plant which would be able to produce 30 million gallons of water every day would also supply water from Yapei to Damongo and communities along the Yapei-Tamale road.
Some of the areas that are to benefit from the new water treatment plant are Nanton, Cheshegu, Sankpala, Tolon, Kumbungu, Tamale Town, Savelugu, Pong Tamale, Bagabaga, Fufulso, Sumpini, Banyasi, Nabori and other communities within the catchment area.
The chairman of the committee said the new treatment plant would help solve the perennial water shortages in the aforementioned areas.
The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, stressed the need for Parliament to religiously ensure that there is value for money in the execution of the project which would be done within 54 months with six months being used for the developmental phase of the project.
He said Parliament must also take the trouble to scrutinize the details of the contract to help it do proper oversight of the project.
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, commended the Akufo-Addo government for seeing the need to construct an additional water system for the Tamale area. He said the construction of the new water system would definitely improve supply of potable water in both urban and rural Tamale.
He also stressed the need for Parliament to properly scrutinize the contract and strictly demand value for money.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr