Wa, March 08, GNA - Mr Ambrose Dery, the Upper West Regional Minister, on Tuesday appealed to Mr Flemming Bjork Pedersen, the Ambassador of Denmark, to help find a lasting solution to the acute water problem in Wa.

The regional capital has between 12 to 18 per cent water coverage for a population of 75,000 people.

The fast growing town depends on 16 boreholes for its water and the situation becomes very acute during the dry season when water pumped by the Ghana Water Company is never enough to go round.

Mr Dery made this appeal when Mr Pedersen, on a three-day visit to the region, paid a courtesy call on him at his office at Wa. The Black Volta, which is about 60 kilometres, away is thought to be a possible reliable source of water if foreign funding could be sourced for a water project for the municipality.

Mr Dery also appealed for a standby electricity generator for the Lawra Hospital as well as the possible establishment of a plant pool to rent out machinery and equipment to contractors in the region to facilitate the execution of their contracts.

He said because of the low capacity of contractors in the region, several contracts awarded for road construction some years ago have still not been completely executed.

The ambassador said he was in the region to prepare the groundwork for visit to Ghana of the Danish minister for co-operation. He said the minister would be in the country from April 12to 15 and expressed his country's readiness to contribute towards the alleviation of poverty in the three northern regions.

Mr Pedersen said the last 10 years had seen significant improvement in co-operation between the two countries and that areas of significant cooperation were sanitation, the business sector and good governance. 08 March 05