Accra, Nov 9, GNA - The government has secured a $71 million Dutch loan to undertake a major rehabilitation and expansion project in the Eastern Region to provide a permanent solution to the perennial water supply problem within the Akuapem Ridge and Accra Plains.

A statement from Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) said the project, due to be completed by 2011, was being undertaken by Messrs Tahal Group BV and Tahal Consulting Engineers of the Netherlands and Zaire.

"The contractors have already commenced work on the project involving the construction of treatment plant, transmission and distribution pipelines and reservoirs," the statement said.

It said the project, dubbed the Accra-Tema Rural Water Supply System, would benefit residents of Aburi, the Peduase Lodge and over 80 towns in the Eastern and Greater Accra regions, especially those found on the Akuapem Ridge and the Accra Plains.

Meanwhile, ahead of the $71 million dollar project, GWCL was due to complete a relatively minor project worth about GHC70,000 to supply potab= le water to Aburi, Aburi Girls Secondary School and Peduase Lodge.

The interim intervention, which included mechanization of high yield= ing boreholes, construction of transmission mains from the boreholes to existing reservoirs, construction of borehole starter pump house and connection of electricity to the pump house, would be completed by close of this month. According to the statement, Group Captain Michael S. K. Dordor (Rtd), Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), who led a delegation of board members on a tour of the project at Aburi, said government was committed to solving the water supply problem in Aburi.

The tour took the GWCL board members to Peduase Lodge, parts of Aburi and the Aburi Girls Secondary School.

Mr. Michael Botse Baidoo, a project manager of GWCL, told the board members that so far, the bore had been drilled and the construction of transmission pipelines to the reservoirs had been completed. He said ahead of a permanent supply of electricity to the pump house, GWCL had, in the interim, mounted a generator to pump water from the borehole to give temporary relief to the people of Aburi. The statement noted that currently the Aburi Girls Secondary School, for instance, had leakages on its underground reservoir so used water tanker services to fetch water from a borehole on campus and sometimes from Madi= na in Accra. The board, according to the statement, expressed satisfaction with progress of work on the project and appealed to Mr. Baidoo to supervise t= he contractor to ensure the timely completion and value for money.