Accra, June 26, GNA - Improving access to potable water and sanitation is critical to achieving good health which would facilitate economic growth and poverty reduction, Mr. Abukakur Boniface Saddique, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, said on Thursday. He said there was therefore the need to accelerate investment in safe water provision through the rehabilitation and expansion of water supply systems for both rural and urban communities. Mr. Saddique said this at a ceremony to sign a $13 million grant by the government of the Netherlands to support Ghana's Urban Water Project which sought to mobilize investment to expand distribution networks especially to low income consumers.

The grant makes the Dutch government a co-financier with World Bank in the Urban Water Project.

He said the Ministry had over the years been a partner to the government of Netherlands through the utilization of ORET funds with a Grant value of 200 million dollars.

He said Weija, Winneba, Sekondi-Takoradi and Cape Coast water supply systems had been rehabilitated and expanded under the funding while current interventions were been sought for Koforidua, Kpong and New Tafo, among other places.

Ms. Katherine Bain, Country Manager, World Bank, said the project was expected to provide about 600,000 people with potable water in urban areas by 2010.

She said findings indicated that it was necessary to invest over one billion dollars in order to satisfy the water demand in 81 urban areas by 2025.

"Therefore much more investment is needed from the government, development partners and private investors." Ms. Bain said the project was also supporting studies by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission aimed at improving services in poor communities in the Greater Accra Region.

Mr Lidi Remmelzwaal, Dutch Ambassador, said their contribution was to help Ghana to achieve the MDGs on access to water and sanitation. "On top of the investment support to urban water systems, various other Dutch organizations provide considerable knowledge and experience to the water and sanitation sector in Ghana," he said.