The Northern Regional Manager of Ghana Water Limited (GWL), Mr. Stephen Amihere Mensah, has disclosed the plans being implemented to minimize the effect of the lingering acute water crisis in the Tamale metropolis and its surrounding communities.
He noted that an investment worth more than six million Ghana cedis has been made through the intervention of the Managing Director, Dr Clifford Braimah, to improve supply of water to various households in the region.
“This year, we put in a lot of plans to minimize the effect of the water crisis. Unfortunately, it started yielding results from last week but the investment that the company has made through our MD was more than GH₵6 million just for this season and to break the myth that this happens during Ramadan” he asserted.
He added, “We began by cleaning our tank at Dalun so that we can put in more water. We did this at a cost of GHS163,000 and that was last year, just before the dry season begun. And we have this delivery tank at Kukuo Yapalsi which has been nonfunctional for years, we’ve invested GHS5.8 million to clean it and contain water but unfortunately the plan didn’t work perfectly and we entered into the Ramadan season.”
The Northern Regional Manager made these remarks when leadership of the Northern Region Muslim Council paid a working visit to the Ghana Water Limited last Friday, April 12, 2024 to obtain firsthand information about the measures undertaken to address the water crisis in the regional capital.
But, Mr. Amihere in his submission also gave a generic cause of the perennial water crisis in the area, stating the sand winning activities at the Nawuni intake point remains a major operational challenge especially during the dry season.
He bemoaned that more than 150 tipper trucks of sand leave the intake point every day, emphasizing the water thereby becomes turbid with particles which causes the breakdown of their machines.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Northern Region Muslims Council, Sheikh Issah Abubakari, for his part explained the meeting became necessary following the severity of the water crisis and the erratic electricity supply in the region particularly during the just ended Ramadan month.
He indicated a section of the Muslim community are aggrieved and have accused the utility provider of sabotaging the spiritual month every year.
He however assured that the clarification given to some of the public concerns would be conveyed to the relevant stakeholders, adding, “We will also appeal to our spiritual and religious leaders and our chiefs to talk to sand winners to stay away from the machines of the water company at Dalun so it doesn’t affect their operations”.
