The water system would include the construction of a 15,000m3/day (3.3MGD) conventional water treatment plant, 25km transmission pipelines, water booster station, construction of reservoirs, and rehabilitation and extension of distribution networks, approximately 50km.

Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister of Information, who announced this at a news conference in Accra on Thursday, said the project was being financed through a credit facility agreement between the Government of Ghana and the Indian Exim Bank.

The development is coming on the back of a successful roadmap on the chieftaincy peace process in the area in relation to the funerals of Ya- Na Mahamadu Abdulai IV and Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II.

The Minister said the water system would serve the Yendi Municipality and other surrounding towns and villages and that it would take raw water from River Daka, which flows through a water treatment facility, built in 1961.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah noted that as a result of the population and economic growth in the Yendi Municipality, it had become necessary to expand the existing water supply system to meet the demands of beneficiary towns and communities.

“The expansion of the water supply system is also in line with government’s policy to ensure that by 2030 all people living in Ghana have potable water,” he noted. “The provision of potable water to over one hundred and thirty-three people and through the Yendi project would be a giant step towards achieving this objective.”

The Minister said government was delighted about the project because the Yendi Municipality, among other things, contributed immensely to the country’s agricultural sector through the production of food and cash crops in large scale.

He added that it would serve as an impetus in increasing production and mining potential in the area due to the presence of iron ore deposits there. The Minister expressed the hope that the current peaceful air blowing in Yendi after the successful roadmap would help speed up the implementation of the project.

He gave the assurance that more development projects had been planned for the area and would be announced in due course.