BAGBIN WILD ON ENGINEERS

“You must finish work quickly,” he says

Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing last Wednesday defied the heavy rains at Kpong and impressed on the engineers of the Ghana Water Company Ltd to fix a major pipe leakage at the treatment plant there. The major leakage, which was detected on the main 63 inches fiber glass transmission line that transports raw water from the raw water intake to the Kpong treatment plant has led to the shut-down of the plant on Wednesday to pave way for repair works.

This has made transmission of water to the Eastern and Central part of the metropolis to be cut. Areas affected are Tema, Michel Camp, Kpong, Prampram, Tema Industrial Area, Ashaiman, Kpone, Adenta, Madina, La, Teshie, Lashibi, Spintex, Baatsonaa, Cantonements, Labone, Osu, Osu Kuku Hill, Nima, Maamobi, Pig Farm, Achimota and surrounding areas of Kpong itself. At the treatment site last Wednesday, Hon Alban Sumana Bagbin spent the whole day giving moral support to the engineers to finish work on time. According to him, the leakage must not be allowed to last long to worsen the already acute water shortage in the country.

Capitaline sources say the engineers were shocked that the Minister would leave his air-conditioned office in Accra to the treatment plant at Kpong to ensure that the pipe leakage was dealt with. In a press release, Stanley Martey, Communication Manager at the headquarters of the GWCL apologized for the inconveniences that might occur and advised consumers to store water for the period of the repair works.

“Commuters on the Tema-Akosombo trunk road is by this release notified that, there has been a diversion of the road between Kpong and Akrade and as such drivers must slow down on approaching the area and observe road signs to avoid any eventuality,” the statement further stated.

Stanley Martey told Capitaline via telephone from the Kpong treatment plant that the team of engineers is working hard to ensure the work is done ahead of schedule. He added, “At most we should take a week to finish work here. Unless unforeseen hitches creep in, the one week deadline might not be achieved.” The repair work at the site is on a 24-hour basis and experts have assured that definitely normal transmission of water will resume next week Thursday.