The Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area (GKMA) drinking water and sanitation project is launched. The works, which started on November 24th, 2020, aim at improving access to sanitation and drinking water in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) and the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area (GKMA), with a focus on low-income communities. The initiative is also expected to contribute to strengthening the management of sanitation services in GAMA and GKMA.
According to the Ghanaian Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, the Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area Water and Sanitation Project will run for a period of four years. It provides for the laying of 120 km of new water pipes. The facilities will be used to connect 10,000 low-income households to the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) network. “This represents about 150,000 people living in the project’s beneficiary areas, including Kumasi, Asokwa, Oforikrom, Old Tafo, Suame, Kwadaso, Ejisu and Asokore-Mampong,” says Cecilia Abena Dapaah.
The project will also enable the construction of 42,000 latrines in the two cities, i.e. 12,000 toilets in Greater Accra and 30,000 in Greater Kumasi. In schools and health centres, 150 units of sanitary facilities will be built. The authorities of this West African country are also considering the management of wastewater and septic tank sludge, the management and drainage of liquid waste and investment in sludge treatment plants.
The implementation of the drinking water and sanitation project in the Accra metropolitan region and the Kumasi metropolitan region is being financed to the tune of 125 million dollars by the International Development Association (IDA), a subsidiary of the World Bank group. The loan agreement between the international financial institution and the government of Ghana was signed in September 2020.
Inès Magoum