More than 400,000 people in the Volta Region will enjoy frequent supply of potable water from the Keta Water Supply Project upon completion in December 2023.
The project estimated at the cost of €97 million and being constructed at Agordome is one of the several water supply projects being undertaken by the government through the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources.
The communities to benefit from the facility include Agordome-Sogakpe, Keta, Anloga and surrounding towns.
Dr Achibald Yao Letsa, the Volta Regional Minister, disclosed this in Accra on Wednesday during the minister’s briefing dubbed: “The State of the Region Report.”
The media encounter enabled the minister to update the public on the various infrastructural projects and social interventions executed by the government since 2017.
Some of the sectors highlighted in his presentation included agriculture, water and sanitation, road infrastructure, health and education as well as the tourism potentials of the region.
The minister explained that the water project formed part of the government’s extensive infrastructure development programme designed to strengthen economic growth and create job opportunities, while ensuring better living conditions for her rapidly growing population.
It involved the rehabilitation of the existing Keta Water Treatment Plant in Agordome to restore production to its full capacity of 7,200 cubic metres per day, construction of a new water treatment facility in the city with a capacity of 35,000 cubic meters per day, transmission pipelines, a booster station and reservoirs.
There was also an €11.5 million five districts water project completed and undergoing testing, which would benefit about 80,000 residents in the region.
On agriculture, he said, a total of 157,095 farmers, comprising 111,069 males and 46,026 females had been registered under the Planting for Food and Jobs and thus, benefiting from improved seedlings and other farm inputs supplied by the government to boost food production.
Under Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD), he said, 3,000 cashew seedlings were supplied to farmers while an irrigation scheme project at Torgome was benefiting 12,000 inhabitants ensuring the cultivation of crops twice a year.
Dr Letsa announced that Ho and Hohoe municipalities were selected to benefit from the Ghana Secondary Cities Support Programme.
The two municipalities therefore received urban management and basic urban services and facilities, noting that Ho Municipality, for instance, got 228 lockable stores, 72 unit watercloset facilities, revenue post and pavement of the floor.
The Hohoe Municipality also had a central market at Hohoe, 106 lockable stores, 144 unit of store sheds, 16 garages and a creche, as well as health, police and fire posts.
On road infrastructure, Dr Letsa indicated that there were bitumen surfacing and upgrading works ongoing across the region including the dualisation of the 10.5km Ho main road, 15km asphalt overlay of Hohoe Municipality, upgrading of 2.44km Klefe town roads and the construction of 175-metre Span Steel bridge linking Agbenorxoe to Dafor-Tornu. The Eastern Corridor Road projects were also progressing steadily.
BY CLIFF EKUFUL