Busua (W/R), April 19, GNA - Mr. Asante Sarkodie, Zonal Planner of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), has called on the various district assemblies that would benefit from the second phase of the CWSA projects, to engage qualified and indigenous artisans to undertake the projects.

"You should engage people on merit and not on favouritism or any other consideration", he said.

Mr. Sarkodie was speaking at a day's orientation, awareness creation and capacity building conference for selected personnel from all the 11 districts of the Western Region at Busua, at the weekend.

He said the second phase of the project, which would span over a three- year period, was valued at 27 million Dollars, and targeted at communities that were proactive, willing to contribute and effectively manage all resources entrusted into their care and added that the project implementation would begin in January 2005.

He said as part of the project, hand dug wells, boreholes, Ventilated Improved Pits (VIP), Kumasi Ventilated Improved Pits (KVIP), and an improved hand washing programme among school children, would be given special focus.

Mr. Sarkodie said apart from the Western and Central regions, which had just been included in the phase two of the project, the Upper East and West, Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions would also benefit. He said the CWSA was looking at new technologies that would replace the KVIP and VIP projects, in order to prevent the pollution of the water table and peculiar nature of the water sources in the Western Region.

Mr. Sarkodie said the CWSA would soon make the toilet projects an attractive investment opportunity for businessmen to operate.

He urged district assemblies and stakeholders in the water and sanitation sector to take the second phase of the project seriously and contribute in whatever way they could, to make the project a success. Madam Sophia Horner-Sam, Deputy Western Regional Minister said for the smooth and successful implementation of the project, there was the need to develop an effective communication system among the various stakeholders.

Madam Horner-Sam said the provision of logistical support would enhance the sharing of information and learning from the experiences of each other.

She urged the district assemblies to sensitise their respective beneficiary communities to embrace the projects and managed them, to meet their water requirements.

Mr. Emmanuel Gaze, Western Regional Director of the CWSA said the project was aimed at increasing coverage in the water and sanitation sectors and said apathetic and inactive districts would not benefit from the project.

"Access to the investment is purely on the basis of demand responsiveness, where smart and pro-active districts that meet all the requirements under the programme are likely to solve the water needs of their people," he added.