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

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The losses incurred could be as high as GHc 9 million, according to the Ghana Water Company Board Chair, Alex Afenyo-Markin.

[contextly_sidebar id=”bzcqVVKHR1ft77CIxccoaCsfrmAoVRFI”]He noted on Eyewitness News that “the reality is that it [the desalination plant] is draining us financially and we are looking at it.”

“…the contention has been every month, we produce at the cost of GHc 11 million, and we generate revenues of GHc 2 million. There is a deficit and it has been so consistently.”

As far as the committee’s mandate is concerned, Mr. Afenyo-Markin said: “we would want to understand whether or not there are some internal issues that have caused this high cost of production or that the financial engineering was not properly situated.”

The Ghana Water Company buys water at about GHc 6.5 per cubic metre, but sells at the regulated rate of about GHc 1.5 per cubic meter.

Citi News’ checks indicated that, the Ghana Water Company 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.

The committee will peruse pertinent documents in a bid to properly assess the cost component and reconcile conflicting information.

“We need to get some documents. We have sighted some documents that says something and others saying another, so we have asked the sub-committee to look into the cost component and how a decision was arrived at when it was going to be a debt on the side of Ghana Water from the onset.”

So far, the Ghana Water Company has paid in excess of $36 million, which the company’s Board Chair said could have gone into other projects.

“In two weeks, there will be a report. We will take a firm decision, make the report public, engage on the outcome of our decision and I am sure we will be satisfied” he said.

Mr. Afenyo-Markin noted that, the Ghana Water Company was not singling out the Teshie Desalination project in its review of the company’s operations, and that “there other things on the table.”

“We are looking at how to do things that sustain the operations of Ghana Water without the government having to incur more debt in the supply and production of water,” he said.

Background

In April 2015, the $126 million plant was commissioned to process sea water into potable water for consumers in Teshie Nungua and surrounding areas.

It is estimated that it serves 500,000 people with an estimated 13 million gallons or 60,000 cubic meters of water per day.

In 2011, the Government awarded a contract to Befesa Desalination Development Ghana for the establishment of the treatment plant to produce clean water.

This public-private partnership arrangement will see a company, Abengoa, operate the plant for 25 years, and then transfer its management to GWCL.

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

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To make working with the company an attractive proposition, there was incentive offering medical coverage for retired employees till their death.

[contextly_sidebar id=”4OrKkuQnoYmrzgrKWmN4K5hqrdKT1MpW”]But after a meeting on Tuesday, where a number of reforms were agreed upon, the company’s Board Chair, Alex Afenyo-Markin, disclosed on Eyewitness News that, “what we realized is that same  [medical coverage] has become the subject of abuse.”

Thus he said the Ghana Water Company has “for the time suspended the payment of all claims and has tasked the management to do an analysis and revert to us in two weeks.”

Mr. Afenyo-Markin also revealed they have also cut ties with some suppliers because the board noted that the company was losing too much money to suppliers, thus, “Ghana Water cannot continue to finance the cost of service rendered by suppliers.”

As an example, he noted that “somebody is being awarded a contract to supply chemicals; the person does not have an entity registered locally, they give an agent who is representing it and playing a nominal role in the contract, issues of jurisdiction and where there is dispute, how do you serve a party [with a lawsuit] and all that. We cannot continue to do that. We have reviewed that” he noted.

When the members of the Ghana Water Company governing board were inaugurated, they pledged to end revenue leakages in the company’s operations, and Mr. Afenyo-Marking noted that, these moves were in line with that.

“We promised the President and Ghanaians that we would seal all loopholes and ensure that we get value for money so that the workers can be better off. Ghana Water must be profitable,” he stated.

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

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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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A report by Citi News’ Caleb Kudah on Tuesday, revealed that what started as a small pothole had become almost a pond in front of Ernest Chemist, close to the Newtown overhead linking the recently commissioned Circle interchange.

[contextly_sidebar id=”FVVaFgop4uy5k5XbkTtRYoFW7SzaGlRR”]A follow-up to the site on Wednesday showed that, some officials of the Urban Roads department and contractors of Quieros Galvao, have moved to fix the potholes that road users say delay the flow of traffic and damages vehicles.

Philip Ansah, the resident engineer for the Circle Interchange project, said the potholes were caused by a burst pipe underground that gradually eroded the asphalt on the road.

He said although the problem, which first developed after the commissioning was fixed by the Ghana Water Company, it has resurfaced. He said his outfit was waiting on the Ghana Water Company to complete work on the underground pipe before the potholes are filled.

Meanwhile, some drivers who ply that route have said they are skeptical that the measures by the Ghana Water Company and the contractors will permanently address the problem.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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SMS messages have already been sent to customers in the Greater Accra, Central, Ashanti and Western Regions.

“In our bid to serve the public better, the Management of the Ghana Water Company limited, wishes to inform our cherished customers that, it is making a transition from Paper Bill delivery to electronic billing (e-bills) through SMS and or Emails,” the company stated in a press release.

“GWCL began sending e-bills concurrently with paper bills from March 2017, and will gradually cease delivering that of the paper bills,” the release also noted.

The data collection to enhance the system is still on-going, according to GWCL, and it has urged customers to cooperate with its personnel in providing the required details which include the customer’s name, customer’s accounts number and customer’s Phone number and or email address.

The GWCL introduced an electronic billing system to replace the old paper system in June 2016 on a pilot basis in the Tema region.

The new electronic system will calculate the water consumption instantly, and automatically send to customers their corresponding bill via text message and or e-mail.

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

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Very few of GWCL’s 90 systems for treating water for consumption have been spared by illegal mining, also known as galamsey, as its dire consequences spread across the country and beyond its borders.

[contextly_sidebar id=”sjmWBwwiHjaU4fUo2Zr7gj00PUBNNeM2″]The GWCL’s Public Relations Officer, Stanley Martey, bemoaned the strain on the equipment at treatment plants which have to contend with the by-products of mining-related activities that pollute rivers serving treatment plants.

He said their treatment plants spend more time offline as they have to undergo maintenance at least every 48 hours.

“Our pumps are not made to extract mud for treatment… the mud is water with sand and small stones so the moment they get into the pumps, they trigger it. It breaks the ball rates. For us to manage it very well it means we have had to service these pumps at least once every week instead of the usual once in a month or once in two months, so that we can at least manage the lifespan of these pumps.”

“We need to shut down for 24 to 48 hours to enable us service these pumps so it affects our down times and affects the volumes of water we treat in a day and in a week.”

Mr. Martey also revealed that about half of the volume water pumped for treatment is lost because it is all sand and stones.

He explained that, “because it is muddy and very turbid, we have to lose about 40 t0 50 percent of the water before we can get at least some form of good water to enable us treat the water for the consumption of the people. We extract about 100 percent volume and lose between 40 and 50 percent.”

“If you are wasting energy in extracting water and spending more energy pumping to the people, it doesn’t make it cost efficient,” he stressed further.

More money spent on chemicals

The various treatment plants also have to spend more money on chemicals to treat the water, according to Mr. Martey, and this culminates in the company losing GHc 4 for every cubic meter of water treated.

“Apart from that, we have had to use more chemicals than normally we would have used because for instance, instead of using a bag or two in a day, we have had to use about eight to ten so it means that cost of production goes very high and automatically it will affect our tariffs.”

“As I speak, the cost of production now is over GHc 8 every cubic meter of water… and the tariff is less than GHc 4 for every cubic meter of water, we lose about GHc 4 and we treat close to 200 million gallons of water on a daily basis.”

Galamsey cuts water production to only 60%

The Ghana Water Company limited (GWCL), has also lamented the effects of illegal mining activities on its production capacity, as it currently produces forty percent below its national production capacity.

According to the company, almost all of its major treatment plants across the country have been shut down.

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

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Five o’clock shadow

After a day or two of rolling out of bed and not shaving, this is the result. If you happen to get a handle on it, the five o’clock shadow can easily transition into manicured scruff and, perhaps later on, a short beard.

Short beard

Everyone from investment bankers to boho artists rocks this beard these days. It’s one part gruff and one part groomed, which is precisely why it has such wide appeal.

Jesus Beard

An overgrown version of a basic beard that bares resemblance to the most common depictions of a beard-blessed Jesus. Religious renderings of this style first appeared during the 6th century and probably should have stayed there.

Circle beard

This identical trio is commonly credited as the singular goatee, but, in fact, it’s in a category of cut all its own. Whatever you choose to call this one, the facial formation is much the same. It’s a moustache meeting up with a goatee and a soul patch — like the Balbo (see below) with all the components connected in holy hair harmony.

Goatee

The most often misdiagnosed facial hair condition, a goatee is a tuft on the chin similar to the one sported by its barnyard namesake. There’s no moustache or soul patch connecting to it like you may have thought.

Balbo

The Balbo is basically a goatee and soul patch sharing the same property next door to a lone moustache. It owes its name to the Fascist Italian leader Italo Balbo, who wore the unique style as early as the 1920s.

Soul patch

A small patch of hair just below the lower lip. It rose to fame during the 1950s among African-American men on the jazz circuit and later spread to artists, beatniks and Howie Mandel.

Mutton chops

This is hair that extends down the sides of the face but does not form a complete beard. They’re essentially sideburns on steroids that vaguely resemble the shape of the cut of meat for which they are named.

Classic Moustache 

A little (or a lot) of hair grown above the upper lip. And while moustaches come in various lengths (from Charlie Chaplin’s toothbrush to the dynastic Fu Manchu) and thicknesses (from John Waters’ pencil-thin one to Frank Zappa’s chevron), the basic follicular formation remains the same.

Horseshoe

Think Hulk Hogan: a moustache that extends vertically down the sides of the mouth to the jawline, creating an upside-down “U” or horseshoe shape. It’s also known as a biker ‘stache because, well, it’s a favourite among the Harley-riding, leather-clad crowd.

Handlebar

If you thought that the handlebar was reserved for Mario and Luigi, think again. This style’s popularity is on the rise thanks to hipsters. Here, the moustache is grown bushy and long enough to achieve upward-pointing ends. Since the pointed ends are achieved by the use of products, such as styling wax, the look is high-maintenance. Depending on your personality, handlebars can be worn large or small, though today’s version veers toward the latter (a modern-day take on the barbershop quartet look).

Source: uk.askmen.com

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