At least 300,000 people in six regions are to benefit from a potable water project to be financed with a $12 million grant from the People’s Republic of China.
Under the project, 1,000 boreholes will be constructed in rural communities and small towns in the Brong Ahafo, Northern, Western, Eastern, Upper East and Volta regions.
The 1,000 borehole project, to be implemented under the auspices of the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing, is aimed at supplying safe and accessible water to those communities to help reduce water-borne diseases, reduce the burden on women and children and even improve access to water to small businesses and cottage industries in those communities.
Signing ceremony
The Minister of Finance, Mr Seth Terkper, signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Ms Sun Baohong, in Accra.
Mr Terkper welcomed the support, saying although the country was at the lower middle income status where many of its development partners had indicated they would withdraw grants, social infrastructure and concessional credits such as China had expanded for Ghana should be explored.
“We know that China has come out very strongly in the last 30 years and you’re an example to many middle income countries in Africa and we want to follow a similar path of development, saying Ghana was picking up many lessons from China.
Chinese Ambassador
For her part, Ms Baohong said feasibility on the project had already been conducted a year ago with a Ghana-China team, led by the Community Water and Sanitation Agency which paved the way for work to begin in earnest.
“After signing the exchange of notes , the project will kick off pretty soon and I wish it would be carried out in a smooth manner,” she stated.
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(Nana Kwesi)