Residents of Pakro, in the Akwapim south District of the Eastern Region, on Saturday, benefited from a water treatment and distribution facility at the cost of 65, 000 US dollars.
The facility, which draws water from the Densu River, is a small treatment and distribution centre, aimed at producing 65, 000 liters of safe drinking water per day.
The project jointly founded by Coca-Cola Africa Foundation and the waterhealth internationals, was to provide sustainable access to clean, safe water, to reduce the incidence of water borne diseases in the community.
Mr Alban Bagbin, Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, who commissioned the facility, said with the current rural population of over 12 million, 7.3 million people have access to portable water, leaving more than 4.5 million people without access.
“My doors are therefore open to any corporate body interested in partnering Government in its developmental efforts, most especially, in delivering potable water to the people of Ghana,” he added.
He said given this constraints, government was engaging the private sector and the regulatory agencies to ensure that good governance standards and guidelines were set to solve the country’s water sector problem.
He urged the management of waterhealth international, managers of the facility to work in partnership with the Water and Sanitation Committee, to run the system in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Community Water and Sanitation Agency.
Mr Bagbin commended the two organisations for their foresight in joining forces to impact the lives of the fringe communities, including children and women.
He expressed the hope that the project would go a long way to benefit the people of the community positively.
Mr Bill Egbe, Chairman of the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation, said the foundation was grateful to be working with communities for their own development.
He thanked the local people for their committed and participation in the project and advised them to maintain the facility.
For technical sustainability, he said, management of waterhealth international had trained members of the community to operate and maintain the facility.
Nana Ferdinand Lokko, Regent of Pakro, was grateful to the two organisations for the facility and pledged the community’s support to maintain the project.
He said with the provision of this facility, most water borne diseases would be prevented from the community.
Nana Lokko said the community was ready to provide communal support for future projects in the area.