Quality water which is a critical resource to supporting life has endeared souls and attracted a lot of support for it provision. The provision of quality water cannot be underestimated which requires so much effort and resources to ensure it availability.

The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), is charged with the day-to-day supply of quality water to its customers. It is estimated that Urban and Rural water delivery is 63.4 and 64 per cent respectively. This is an indication that Ghana is on track to meeting the MDGs target at 78% of quality drinking water (Source: PRO of GWCL 30^th April, 2014, Graphic online and www.wsmp.org respectively). But the frequent increase in connections as a result of increased residential accommodation necessitate high demand for water thereby, overstretches the institutional resources.

This sector collaborates with a number of stakeholders. Among them are , the Government, Ministry of Works and Housing, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Environment Science and Technology, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs),Water Research Institute, Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA),The World Bank, European Union, DANIDA, Unicef ,Water Aid, other Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Alternative service providers such as bottling companies and other vendors.

For the challenges faced by the utility, there has been a number of foreign support to improve its work. The Word Bank which is Ghana’s key development partner supports this sector with huge sums of grants and credits.

In July 2004, an amount of US103 million was approved for Urban Water Project UWP).The project became effective in March 23, 2005 and was designed to support “sustainable growth and job creation” and “human development and service provision” to contribute to the achievement of the country’s development objectives. The project was revised in October, 2010 to extend it closing date by two years from December 31, 2010 to December 31, 2012.The two principal project development objectives were to (i) significantly increase access to piped water system in the urban centres, with emphasis on affordability and service reliability to the urban poor; and (ii) restore long-term financial sustainability, stability and viability to the Ghana Water Company Limited.

An additional financing of US$50 million was proposed in March 5, 2012 which became necessary as the project development objectives were modified to align with the project intervention and to provide clear measurements of outcome indicators to (i) increase access to affordable and reliable piped water supply in targeted urban centres and (ii) improve financial viability of the Ghana Water Company Limited.

Nordic Development Fund (NDF) provided EUR$6 million equivalent in parallel to the IDA Grant for the rehabilitation of a number of dams. In addition, the Dutch Government provided a grant of US$13 million by means of a Trust Fund in support of UWP for Repair, Replacement and Rehabilitation subcomponents in May 2008( Source: Urban and Water Unit ,Sustainable Development Department, Country Department AFCW1, Africa Region World Bank ).

On the 20^th March, 2012 according to Mr. Godwin Kwaku Dovlo Herve Delsoi, Deputy Managing Director of GWCL, the company received an amount 1,615,750 million Euro from European Union, Vitens of the Netherlands and GWCL to rehabilitate its entire water infrastructure in the 10 regional laboratories and a central laboratory. It was also to cover the training of personnel to effectively handle challenges in the work. This was meant to ensure reliable and quality water supply (Source: ISD).

Interestingly, considering the huge financial inflow into this sector, there are communities that hardly see their taps flow. Interaction with some communities in Accra especially Madina reveal that they hardly get water from their tap but do receive water bills from GWCL.

One may be tempted to ask these questions considering the financial support to this area   

• Has there been any significant change in the delivery of quality and regular supply of water?
• Is there any positive feedback on customer satisfaction?
• Are the targets set achievable?
• Are these interventions effectively monitored?

For the fact the company attain about 64% coverage indicates that it does not rest on its oars and could do better in service delivery hence, the following few suggestion would be useful.

• Create an accountability mechanisms to ensure effective sue of the organizational resources
•  There should open days for customers to interact with the institution on their operations and challenges
• Increase community participation on water management, control and protection
• MMDAs to monitor the implementation of quality water delivery and targets.
• Institute effective coordination of the various interventions

 

                                                                                                             

Mohamed Saani Iddrisu is a Utility Reform Expert with the Northern Accelerated Intervention for Development (NAID)Tamale, Northern Region.  naidghana@gmail.com  or  msaaniiddrisu@yahoo.co.uk 0246171426