CONCERNED CITIZENS LAUD GOVERNMENT (PAGE 29)

THE Concerned Citizens Association of Tamale (CCAT) has commended the government for the ongoing Tamale Water Supply Expansion and Rehabilitation Project.
The association said it had observed with admiration, not only the completion of a reservoir at Kukuo Yapalsi but also the laying of new pipes in some suburbs of the metropolis and its environs.
‘‘This development is indeed a demonstration of the commitment of the sector ministry and the government to finding a lasting solution to the perennial water shortages and the attendant crises in Tamale and its environs,’’ the association said.
The President of the association, Mr Basharu Alhassan Daballi, who gave the commendation in Tamale, however, drew the attention of the government to the inability of the contractors, Messrs Biwater B.V. of the Netherlands, to rehabilitate the main treatment plant at Dalun.
‘‘The rehabilitation of the Dalun treatment plant, which is part of the contract agreement, has been left out, and this situation in no uncertain terms will affect the projected realisation of the water demands of the people now and in the future by the year 2020 as envisaged in the agreement,’’ he said.
The 45 million euro project is being jointly funded by the Dutch and Ghana governments.
Work on it commenced in August 2006 and was scheduled to have been completed within a two-year period.
The project, upon its completion, will bring the water supply system to its installed capacity of 9.3 million gallons a day to meet the demands of the growing population up to the year 2020.
The current plant production capacity is about 4.3 million gallons, which is being rationed to the people.
Mr Daballi further made reference to a letter from the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing in response to an earlier concern the association raised in a letter to the ministry in 2006.
In the ministry’s response, it gave the assurance that it would ensure strict adherence to transparency and real value for money in the execution of the project and welcomed any collaborative role civil society groups would play to promote the best interests of the country.
‘‘It is in the light of this commitment to the interest of the country demonstrated by your ministry and government that we seek clarification on why the rehabilitation of the Dalun treatment plant has been left out,’’ he stated.