The Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources (MSWR) recently launched the $53.9 million GASSLIP initiative for 11 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA).

The project seeks to provide more than 7,000 toilets for households and other sanitation infrastructure as part of measures to eradicate open defecation at beneficiary assemblies.

Under the project, which is a joint initiative between the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the ministry, refuse bins will also be placed at strategic locations for use by residents.

About 1.9 million poor people within urban and peri-urban Accra are expected to benefit from the improved sanitation facilities by the end of the four-and-a-half-year project.

The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Ms Cecilia Abena Dapaah, swore-in members of the committee in Accra on Friday, October 19, 2018.


Members

Members of the committee include the sector minister, Ms Dapaah; acting Chief Director of the ministry, Mr Joseph Obeng-Poku; the GASSLIP Coordinator, Mr Stephen Ackon and the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Mr Mohammed Nii Adjei Sowah.

Other members are representatives from the sanitation ministry, Ministries of Finance, Monitoring and Evaluation, Works and Housing, Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation and Local Government and Rural Development.

The rest were drawn from the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Lands Commission, Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS) and the Accra and Adentan metropolitan assemblies.

Mandate

Ms Dapaah explained that the Steering Committee had the responsibility to approve the annual work plan and budget prepared by the Project Coordinating Unit to ensure judicious use of resources.

She said it would also give policy direction and play supervisory role to ensure the successful completion of the project.