Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies involved in the implementation of the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area (GKMA) Sanitation and Water Project (SWP) have been urged to double up efforts. This will help them to achieve the target of providing 30,000 household with toilets facilities in the three-year period of the project. Mr George Asiedu, the Project Coordinator who made the call, said the current pace at which the implementation was going could affect the achievement of the proposed target. He said since the inception of the project in December 2021, only 7,086 household toilet facilities had been constructed as against the target of 13,600. The project is supposed to build an average of 850 toilet facilities every month but currently, the MMDAs can construct only 450 toilets monthly. Speaking at GKMA Household Toilet jamboree event in Kumasi, Mr Asiedu stressed the need for the assemblies to double up to help meet the targets. The project is being implemented in the Kumasi Metropolitan, Asokore Mampong, Asokwa, Ejisu, Kwadaso, Oforikrom, Old Tafo, and Suame Municipal Assemblies. The GKMA-SWP is a World Bank grant to support the government of Ghana’s effort to increase access to improved sanitation and water supply in the GKMA, with emphasis on low-income communities. It focuses on the promotion and provision of 30,000 household toilets and 120 institutional toilet facilities as well as extension of pipe water to households in low-income urban communities, and rehabilitation and expansion of the Asafo Sewerage System. Currently, the Ejisu Municipality is leading the chart with a total of 1,533 toilets, representing 90 per cent of the monthly target, Kwadaso is second with 949 toilet facilities, and Suame has built 587 toilets, which is 54 per cent, while the other Municipalities are operating below 40-50 percent of their target. The jamboree was part of team building exercises intended to assist and encourage the eight Municipalities to achieve their targets. Mr Asiedu stated that if the project were to achieve its target for the three-year implementation period, the assemblies should strive to build 10,000 every year. It, was therefore, important to instil in each Assembly, some level of new energy to be able to up their game towards achieving the 30,000 household toilet objectives for the beneficiaries. ‘We are competing among ourselves and by doing so, we are tasking and challenging ourselves with the commitment and re-strategize to achieve the goal of providing 30,000 households toilet facilities’. On deepening the level of efficiency and effectiveness at the assembly levels, Mr Asiedu said the project coordinating office had come up with unique plans for logistical support to achieve success. Mr John Yaw Donkor, Ashanti Regional Environmental Health Director, described the initiative of constructing the household toilet facilities as encouraging. He urged the public to embrace the programme since it was an opportunity for each household to own a toilet facility.
Source: Ghana News Agency
