The minister visited the homes of beneficiaries of the project in the Ga South Municipal Assembly area yesterday (Thursday).

He interacted with some of these beneficiaries on how the affordable toilet facilities have benefitted them and improved the sanitation situation in their communities.

One of the beneficiaries said, “the affordable toilet facility is such a relief. We no longer go through the frustrations we used to encounter just to answer to nature’s call. The only challenge is that we don’t have constant running water for flushing the toilets. But overall I would encourage everyone in the area to get one for themselves too”

The Minister, responding to the water concerns some of these beneficiaries raised said: ‘We want to assure them that government is doing everything to make sure we extend the facility. Now at least we have some capacity, all we need to do is to extend the water system so that it gets to households.”

“Be that as it may, this is better than queuing all day and night with our women being exposed to all the risks [of using the public toilet].”

He added that for public schools along the GAMA area, 260 institutional facilities would be built so that the students in these establishments can benefit as well.

Background

The GAMA Sanitation and water project is a $150 million endeavour sponsored by the World Bank in collaboration with the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources to help lower income level communities have access to affordable toilet and water facilities.

Rates for toilets

Beneficiary households would be expected to pay GHc 1, 100 for a complete facility which includes the structure, a toilet seat, a wash hand basin and a bio-digester.

For those with already existing structures the package would cost GHc 600, and if one required just the bio-digester, GHc 500.

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By: Michael Ogbodu/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The launch was held yesterday (Thursday) January 25, 2018 at Mallam junction in Accra.

The GAMA Sanitation and water project is a $150 million endeavour sponsored by the World Bank with the collaboration of the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources to help lower income level communities have access to affordable toilet and water facilities.

The launch had in attendance, the deputy Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Michael Gyato, the Ga South Municipal Chief Executive Joseph Nyarni Stephen, the Member of Parliament for Weija-Gbawe Constituency who doubles as Deputy Health Minister Tina Mensah  as well as chiefs and pupils from the various schools in the community.

The Ga South MCE, in his welcome address, expressed his sincerest gratitude to the sector minister for choosing to launch in project in his municipality.

He added that this year his municipality would begin a vigorous enforcement of its by-laws on sanitation which include the presence of toilet facilities in various homes.

He further entreated all citizens to endeavour to take advantage of the project to acquire toilet facilities in order to ensure a clean environment within the municipality.

The Weija-Gbawe MP, Tina Mensah iterated the need for everyone to have a toilet facility in their homes to prevent the various illnesses associated with the open defecation.

She quoted some statistics on open defecation in the country noting the immense work and commitment necessary to ensure the problem is addressed.

In conclusion she pledged her ministry’s support to the president’s vision of making Accra the cleanest city in Africa.

The deputy Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Michael Gyato in an address read on behalf of the sector minister, Kofi Adda, reiterated government’s commitment to ridding the capital of filth.

According to him, “as part of measures by government of Ghana to improve sanitation in the country, his Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo, the president of Ghana, created a new ministry to focus on transforming the sanitation development agenda and mobilize tremendous resources towards achieving sanitation and water for all. I am elated to announce to you that the ministry has development a comprehensive strategic plan to address the sanitation menace facing the country. Excerpts from this program were outlined during the launch of national sanitation campaign in November 2017. Ghana is currently ranked 7th worst in the world for access to improved sanitation according to the world health organization and UNCEF, GNPA 2015.”

“Statistics indicate that about one out of every five Ghanaian defecate in the open. This translates to a whooping five million Ghanaians engage in open defecation. In addition about 7% of the urban population practice open defecation and this is no doubt unacceptable in this day and age and we collectively need to take urgent action… an estimated 19,500 household toilets will be constructed in the GAMA area under the GAMA sanitation project… The ministry has mobilized large scale toilet suppliers to facilitate the speedy construction of these facilities. Furthermore financing options are being arranged with selected financial institutions to provide loans to interested households,” he added.

Rates for toilets

Beneficiary households would be expected to pay GHc 1, 100 for a complete facility which includes the structure, a toilet seat, a wash hand basin and a bio-digester.

For those with already existing structures, the package would cost GHc 600, and if one required just the bio-digester, GHc500.

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By: Michael Ogbodu/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Sanitation Ministry launches GAMA toilet project appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The gesture is part of a project being implemented under the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area Sanitation and Water Project (GAMA-SWP) to increase access to improved water supply and sanitation.

Funded by the World Bank, it is aimed at strengthening environmental sanitation management in the selected communities.

Prospective customers in the LIUCs would pay only GHc200 instead of GHc1,500 to enable them to get connected to GWCL pipelines to have access to potable water.

The GWCL had also commenced a rapid customer consultation process known as the “Town Hall Meetings,” to enhance communication between the company and the people in the identified communities.

Mrs Faustina Boachie, the LIUCs Manager, who made this known to the Ghana News Agency at Adjei Kojo near Tema, said the project would continue till the end of 2020.

She said: “All forms of constraints that hindered the provision of water services in those communities have been removed.”

Mrs Boachie said the GWCL had committed to providing equitable, affordable and safer water services to the low income communities.

“Residents in these areas are, therefore, advised to get their own household connections at an affordable rate now to enhance good sanitation,” she said.

Mrs Boachie said GWCL would also provide technical support to the 11 selected metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies in the Greater Accra Region under the GAMA project to supply water to the areas.

She said the project was targeted to benefit 250,000 people in the LIUCs.

Mr Felix Mensah Nii Anang-La, the Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, gave the assurance that the Assembly would ensure efficient solid waste collection in its catchment areas.

He said the Assembly was also engaging with investors in the waste management sector to recycle and generate power through technologies that would use liquid waste in a soon to be constructed central storage facility.

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Source: GNA

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On the Citi Breakfast Show, the project coordinator, George Asiedu revealed that the World Bank had agreed to extend in lieu of the challenges the program has encountered.

[contextly_sidebar id=”rfBSwKvp4779UnjM5Ah8LB3Rnhri5QVq”]“The World Bank was actually responsive to some the issues we bring up for discussions and so the World Bank at this level has agreed with us to extend the project because having identified the challenges and having made some progress towards dealing with it, they have seen the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The coordinators acknowledged the project had so fallen short of expectations and noted that they may not have gotten some aspects of the project right.

No master plan three years in

Breaking down some aspects of the project on the, Mr. Asiedu explained that the project had largely been marching time because it is yet to formulate a master plan for implementation, which they said is projected to cost $3.1 million after the two year formulation period.

Furthermore, a  consultant is required to work on the master plan and Mr, Asiedu insisted that it would take a year to recruit a consultant, in line with procurement processes in Ghana.

That master plan is seeking to provide the road plan that will be used to manage solid waste and “until we come up with a programme or a plan which will be acceptable to all stakeholders, we cannot even put money or any capital investment in any intervention to deal with solid waste management,” he explained.

“So what we need to do now with the GAMA project is to come up with an integrated master plan. We are using the word integrated because hitherto, we used to have master plans for solid waste, liquid waste and drainage but we realised that these separate plans are related.”

But once the plan is ready, Mr. Asiedu said: “they will begin to put in the capital investment to implement the plan.”

In the meantime, GAMA project cannot do anything regarding the construction of landfill sites, the collection of solid waste, the treatment of solid waste as required by the components of the project.

The sanitation aspect of the GAMA Water and Sanitation Project is to take $100 million of the money provided by the World Bank, and a critical part of the project is the provision of toilet facilities.

But according to Mr. Asiedu, “until the midterm review, the project made provision for a $100 million but none of the amount was to be used to construct toilets.”

“What we needed to do was to do sensitization, create demand and educate the people on the need to have toilets in their homes,” the project coordinator added.

The GAMA project was to see the building of school toilets, a faecal treatment plant as well as the carrying out drainage improvement in identified areas that are susceptible to flooding.

Average cost of toilet at GHc 4,000

Despite the provisions being targeted at low-income Ghanaians in the GAMA area, Mr. Asiedu revealed the average cost of the toilets they were providing is GHc 4,000.

At the midterm review, the project found it necessary to negotiate this aspect of the project with the World Bank and they agreed to a 50 percent subsidy to aid the potential consumers.

So far, Mr. Asiedu reported that 9,000 people submitted their names for toilet construction but only 1,300 have paid some money “and out of 1,300, we have been able to fully complete 900 because only 900 have been able to come out with the 50 percent.”

More funds needed

The $150 million provide the project will not be enough, according to Mr. Asiedu, as “but we want to exhaust what we have before we can even ask them for any funds.”

“I can tell you that the funds available may not be enough. We need more and as we sit, we have a lot of the table that we want to do but because of constraints with funding, we cannot do that. We will be able to exhaust these funds and we may need even more.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post $150m GAMA project to be extended despite failings appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.