Accra, March 18, GNA - Mr Daniel Bampoh, a Director of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) on Thursday stressed the need to enforce planning regulations by Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to improve operations of the company to deliver on its mandate.

He said encroachment on GWCL lands within its catchments by private developers was on the increase and appealed to the assemblies to refrain from issuing building permits for development around water treatment plan= ts. Mr Bampoh made the call at a "Water Sector Dialogue" for multi secto= r stakeholders in the water delivery sector in Accra. It was organised by the Water Directorate of Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing (MWRWH) under the theme: "Improving Water Sector Performance for Achieving National and Millennium Development Goal= s (MDGs) targets".

Mr Bampoh cited Weija and Owabi Dams in Accra and Kumasi that requir= ed urgent action to stop encroachers from polluting the water sources otherw= ise in future it would be difficult to treat and produce potable water for th= e people. He noted that GWCL lands acquired through Executive Instruments in t= he past were being contested for by families who had sought refuge under the 1992 Constitution to claim ownership of the lands compelling management t= o find huge sums of money to compensate them. Mr Bampoh said another problem facing the company was lack of investment to expand its infrastructure to improve operations. However, he said despite the increase in population in most urban centres, management was able to increase the provision of water to them. Dr Grace Bediako, Government Statistician said provision of potable water to a large segment of the population was essential to meet one of t= he Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and ensure environmental sustainabili= ty. She said the lives of about 10,000 slum dwellers could be improved b= y 2020 if government could ensure that they had access to potable water and digitized maps to locate water marks. Mr Mintah Aboagye, a Director at Water Directorate of Ministry of Wa= ter Resources, Works and Housing urged stakeholders in the water sector to wo= rk diligently towards service delivery.