Regional News of Sunday, 11 March 2012

Source: GNA

Frenzied celebrations as Pokrom gets modern water closet toilet

Sister Cities International, a US Charitable Organization, has provided Pokrom, a town in the Akuapem South Municipality, with an eight-seater modern public water closet toilet.

The community went into frenzy on Thursday, when Mrs Mary Kane, Director of the organization, inaugurated the facility.

The project was built upon request from the community since many households did not have places of convenience and waste management had become a problem in the area.

Two other facilities were being cited in different towns in the municipality under the African Poverty Alleviation Program Fund (AUPAP) of the Sister Cities International at a cost of 67,000 US dollars.

Mrs Kane said the project was part of the Sister Cities International’s commitment to reducing poverty in its operating communities in Ghana and Africa as well as promoting development in the area of good sanitation.

She said the Sister Cities International in Collaboration with the Bill Gates Foundation had build libraries, school blocks and provided fully connected computer and accessories to schools and communities in the Municipality as part of their developmental support agenda.

She pledged the continuous support of the organization to the improvement of communities and lives of people in the Sub- Saharan Africa to ensure that poverty was alleviated.

The Akuapem South Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Mark Dompreh, stressed the need for households to have their own latrines to ensure that they adhered to the bye-laws of the assembly for the proper management of waste in the area.

He thanked the Sister Cities International for their overwhelming support to development in the municipality and assured them that all the projects would be maintained to stand the test of time for the benefit of the people.

The Project Manager of the AUPAP, Reverend Samuel Agyei, said a total of 115,000 US dollars were allocated for the provision of projects in the community.

He said out of that amount, 67,000 US dollars had been used for the construction of the three public toilet facilities and the rest would be used for renovation of two clinics in the municipality.

Rev Agyei expressed the hope that the other projects would be completed by the end of June.

He assured the President of the organization that the projects would be used for their intended purposes.