Government has invested $1bn into sanitation, water – Cecilia Dapaah reveals

Government has invested about $1 billion into facilitating the provision of sustainable water and sanitation needs across the country, the sector Minister has revealed. According to Cecilia Abena Dapaah, the government employed a Public Private Part­nership (PPP) approach in tackling the rising demand for water and sanitation needs over the years. Mrs. Dapaah made this revelation when the Executive Secretary of the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AM­COW), Dr. Rashid Mbaziira, paid a courtesy call on her in Accra. She noted that the deployment of the PPP approach led to the provision of Integrated Compost and Recycling Plants, Wastewater Treatment Plants, Condominium Sewers, Water intake, and treatment plants. She said that AMCOW was the future of water in Africa as through its summits, African com­mitment to ensuring the provision of sustainable water solutions to her citizens was renewed. “The country is open to new proposals and inputs in tapping into Ghana’s 53.2 billion m3 Renewable Water Resources,” she added. Following the reviewing of the National Sanitation Policy, with a focus on open defecation, the Min­ister of Sanitation and Water Re­sources indicated that the ministry was fully committed to supporting the activities of AMCOW through data sharing with sister countries for the collective good of Africa. Mrs. Dapaah said it was im­portant to mobilize high-level political buy-in and commitment for the roadmap to formulate the post-2025 Africa Water Vision in implementing continental and global commitments on water and sanitation. She reiterated Ghana’s full support for the proposal to ap­point a United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Water to strengthen Africa’s voice at the global level to accelerate progress towards achieving water and sanitation goals in Africa. Dr. Mbaziira for his part stressed the need for African countries to focus on using the digital elements available to them for data collec­tion in the water sector. He used the opportunity to commend Ghana for the successful implementation of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) Water and Sanitation Projects, and the World Bank is considering rep­licating the project in other African countries.