The Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Hon. Alban S.K. Bagbin has declared that he will fix all water related problems within the first 100 days of his tenure in office. According to him the assurance is not an empty boast but it is predicated on his competence and experience, qualities that endeared him to the President and hence his appointment. ''I am not only experienced in water but also passionate about water and sanitation." Speaking at a workshop organized by the Ministry for Water Resources, Works and Housing in Accra last Thursday, under the theme "Improving Water Sector Performance for Achieving National and Millennium Development Goals Targets", Hon Bagbin said he has identified some lapses within the sector and would be dealing with them in due course, adding that he was sent to the sector not to "conform but to transform". He recalled that at the recent Public Accounts Committee of Parliament sittings it came up that water tariffs will not be increased on water. The decision, he said, was informed by the crucial role of water relative to the attainment of the MDGs. He further observed that availability of and access to water has far reaching implications for food security, health, women's empowerment, productivity, poverty reduction and socioeconomic development. "No strategy for poverty reduction and development can ignore people's vital requirements for water and sanitation." He is convinced that a multi-sectoral approach is needed to deal with the challenges of the water sector. "In the context of the growing scarcity of water resources as well as challenge facing Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in providing water and sanitation services to our communities, we need a multi-sectoral and multi-pronged approach to managing water." He said collaboration with other ministries would be one of the methods he would employ to ensure that issues concerning water feature very strongly in the development strategies of all sectors. Meanwhile the World Bank estimates that more than one billion people in the world lack access to potable water and in Africa, it is estimated that an amount equivalent to about 5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is lost to illness caused by dirty water and poor sanitation. Source: Public Agenda/Ghana