Ghana gets $270m EximBank of China loan, $75m World Bank support to provide water for Accra

Ghana has recently signed an agreement with the Export-Import Bank of China for a $270 million concessionary loan and the country is partnering with the World Bank in a water and sanitation project that would help distribute water with a special focus on the most vulnerable in the capital Accra, the World Bank has said.

The current water and sanitation situation in Accra can best be described as inadequate for a bustling capital.

About 90% of residents in Accra have access to safe drinking water, but only about one-third have drinking water running through their pipes at home, and even among the group, many get only an irregular supply of water.

Many households in Accra usually buy water for flushing and washing from private water tankers, and drinking water from private producers.

Beatrix Allah-Mensah, a World Bank social development specialist says, “Those with no room to store water mainly the poor pay more for it.”

The World Bank and other partners, including the African Development Bank, the Netherlands, and the Canadian International Development Agency, have been working with the Ghanaian government to increase access to safe water and improved sanitation such as toilets, sewerage and septic systems, and latrines, in rural and urban areas.

Ghana through these efforts is making is making steady progress toward the United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) for safe drinking water.  According to a 2009 World Bank study, Transforming Africa s Infrastructure, the country is one of only four (and one of two low-income) countries in sub-Saharan Africa on track to meet the goal by 2015.

Access to safe water rose from only about half of the population in 1990 to 82% in 2008, according to the World Health Organization/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
ghanabusinessnews.com