As part of its corporate social responsibility, (MTN) Ghana Foundation has provided 20 boreholes for communities in the Lawra and Wa East Districts, at a cost of GHC178,000.
Twelve communities in the Lawra District and eight communities in the Wa East District benefited from the boreholes.
Mr Frazier Appeadu Malcolm, an Advisor to MTN Ghana Foundation, said the importance of potable water to human beings could not be over emphasised because water is life and sustains human existence on earth.
He noted that in many parts of the world, especially Africa, people have inadequate access to potable water, which often led to the widespread
acute and chronic illnesses and a major cause of deaths in many communities.
Mr Malcolm was speaking at the inauguration of the boreholes at separate forums at Tuma in the Lawra District and Tanina in the Wa East
District, at the weekend, as part of its third anniversary celebrations.
He said the inadequate access to potable water among communities, which is part of the Millennium Development Goals, seeks to reduce by half, the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015.
He said it was the vision of the MTN Ghana Foundation to make the people more self-reliant and sufficient, in terms of water requirement,
thereby reducing the burden of women and children walking long distances in search of water.
Mr Malcolm said the project also sought to improve sanitation and help reduce the accidence of water related health problems, such as trachoma, diarrhoea and bilharzia, among others.
He said 20 water point maintenance committees had been formed in the beneficiary communities, to educate the people on the need for better health practices, to help ensure the sustainability of the project.
The committees would also have 100 water and sanitation members, with 20 for each community and 20 hygiene educators on personal and environmental hygiene.
Mr Malcolm said MTN Ghana Foundation had within the past three years undertaken some number of development projects in the three northern regions.
He mentioned the Academy for Educational Development (AED) project in Tamale, as one of them, which would enhance literacy and numeracy in five basic schools.
The project, which was still on its pilot stage would soon be extended to cover 25 schools and would benefit about 10,000 pupils, while it would also construct a community school at Zujung next year.
Mr Malcolm said MTN Ghana Foundation was in the process of establishing an ultra modern Information and Communication Technology (ICT) learning centres, which would have 20 computers, printers, modems and webcams in Tolon, Hamile and Pwalugu, to help promote the learning of ICT among pupils.
He said 1,000 schools bags were also distributed to students of Kundungu Primary and Junior High School in the Wa East District and children of Tempelle Kindergarten as well as the Dondometeng Primary and Junior High Schools in the Lawra District.
The MTN Ghana Foundation had so far invested GHC3,300,000 in various corporate social responsibility projects, including the completion of the of the second floor of the Korle Bu Maternity Block and the development of the
10 ICT learning centres in 10 regions, which were ongoing.
Mr Malcolm appealed to all members of the beneficiary communities to take good care of the boreholes to ensure that the investment put in the project achieved its intended purpose.
The Concern Universal Ghana, a non-governmental Organisation sourced
funds from MTN Ghana Foundation for Pronet North, also a non-governmental organisation to implement the project.