Some persons who reside in areas affected by the shutdown of the Teshie Desalination Plant have threatened to embark on a seven-day continuous demonstration to demand the restoration of regular water supply to their communities.
They complain of erratic water supply following the decision by the Ghana Water Company to shut down the Accra Desalination Plant.
[contextly_sidebar id=”rkG1Dnc1f4X9Sqnc88a1fLpqx11aFzyt”]The shutdown of the Accra Desalination plant which was commissioned three years ago to help with the water supply in areas of Accra like Teshie, Nungua, Spintex, Lashibi, Sakumono and surrounding communities since 1st of January 2018, has left residents of very frustrated.
The plant was shut down for renegotiation of the contractual agreement between the company and the managers of the plant, Messrs Befessa.
Two weeks after the shutdown, Citi News’ Anass Seidu visited two affected communities, Teshie and Nungua to find out how the irregular supply of water has affected the residents, and how they are coping with the situation.
According to the residents, the water they are getting from boreholes is of poor quality.
“For almost two weeks now, I have not been getting water, it’s really tough. Yesterday I had to send my boy to go far away to search for borehole water,” a resident lamented
“The water quality is not that good, when you put the water down for like 30minutes, you will see some yellowish particles settle down at the bottom of the bucket,” another frustrated resident said.
The residents also said the reason given to them by the government to shut down the plant is unjustifiable.
Speaking on behalf of residents of the affected communities, Gideon Tettey said they [residents] will not suffer because of the ineffectiveness on the side of Ghana Water Company
“Ghana Water Company failed to fulfil its promises. According to the document that we have realized, if it was not because of Ghana Water Company, that plant would not have been constructed and Ghana water company gave approval and assurance to Ghana government that they are going to install prepaid meters and fix the distribution issue among other things to raise revenue to pay the development of the plant, so if at this point in time Ghana Water Company has not done their homework and so for that matter we residents of Teshie Nungua, Labadi and its environs will suffer because of the incompetence of Ghana Water company, I beg to differ, ”he said.
The residents have thus threatened to embark on seven days continuous demonstration if Ghana Water Company fails to address their issues.
“Assemblymen, market women and all the youth in various churches from Teshie Nungua Labadi in its environs are just waiting for a notification to embark on a seven-day sustained demonstration asking that our everyday water is restored,” he said.
About the desalination plant
In 2011, the Government of Ghana awarded a contract to Befesa Desalination Development Ghana for the establishment of the sea water treatment plant to produce clean water, which will be channelled into the pipelines of GWCL.
Messrs Befesa Limited, an engineering firm, was contracted by the government to build the desalination plant, operate to defray its cost, and hand over to the GWCL after 25 years.
The project was executed by Abengoa, a Spanish company, and Sojitz Corporation, Japan’s largest importer of rare earth metals.
The two hold a 94% equity in the project. The plant was designed, constructed and is being operated by Befesa Desalination Developments Ghana, a joint venture of Abengoa Water Investments Ghana, Daye Water Investment (Ghana), and their local partner Hydrocol.
A consolidation of all the costs of the plants culminates in GWCL buying the water from the plant at about GHc 6.5 per cubic meter and selling at the regulated Public Utilities Regulatory Commission rate of about GHc 1.5 per cubic meter.
This arrangement meant that the GWCL is said to be losing about GHc5:00 for every cubic meter of water sold from the Teshie Desalination Plant.
Citi News‘ checks indicate that the GWCL makes payments of GHc 8 million a month to the financiers of the project, although it makes only GHc 2 million by supplying treated water from the plant.
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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana