Ho, July 13, GNA - The Coalition of Non Governmental Organizations in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS), has expressed optimism that Ghana would achieve 78 per cent of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on urban water coverage.

"Despite the slow development of the urban water sub-sector, the projection is that the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) coverage of 78 percent for water delivery can be achieved", it said. This was contained in the Coalition's background paper prior to this year's "Mole" Conference on Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) scheduled for Ho from July 14 to July 18 this year. It would be held under the theme: "Twenty years of multi-stakeholder dialogue in Ghana - the state of water, sanitation and hygiene."

The Mole series of conferences, which focused on water, sanitation and hygiene in rural areas, was instituted in Mole in the Northern region by NGOs in 1989. This year's conference in Ho dubbed: "Mole XX" would focus on urban water and sanitation and also seek to renew the commitment of politicians towards the sector and hold them accountable to promises made towards the development of sanitation during the presidential debate last year.

The conferences, the paper said, contributed immensely to rapid gains in coverage of water supply within the rural sub-sector from 39 percent in 1990 to 68 percent in 2006, which raised the overall national coverage from 56 percent to 74 percent during the same period. It said the overall progress with WASH services delivery in Ghana had been slow and several constraints still plagued the sector. 13 July 09