Residents in the Wa Municipality have called on the authorities to ensure that illegal small scale mining activities at the banks of the Black Volta were stopped.

The residents feared that the Black Volta River, which serves as the intake point for the Wa Water Project, would be polluted with cyanide and mercury substances should illegal mining be allowed to continue at banks of the river, which could pose a health risk to consumers.They also raised concerns that the river could silt-up and affect the water level, thereby defeating the objectives of the project.

Based on these concerns, Alhaji Amidu Sulemana, Upper West Regional Minister, visited the project site to interact with workers and have firsthand information about how work was progressing.

He said illegal small scale mining was a threat to Ghana water development and called for stakeholders’ collaboration to address the menace, especially on river banks and waterways, to ensure that clean water was provided for human consumption.

Alhaji Sulemana called for sustained good relations and neighbourliness with Burkina Faso, which, he said, had joint use of the river to help enhance effective protection of the environment and water.

He appealed to officials of Kolon Global, the Korean Company implementing the project, to give due consideration to the training of Ghanaian engineers and artisans to take over the maintenance of the machinery and equipment after the completion of the project.

Mr Adamu Daasana, Wa West District Chief Executive, said the location of the project was a border point between Ghana and Burkina Faso and that plans were far advanced to establish a police post, and offices for the Ghana Immigration Service to help address security concerns.

He appealed to officials of the company to consider providing outlets for water to be connected from the project pipelines at Dorimon for the people at Wichau, the district capital, in the near future.

Mr Daniel O. Konadu, Local Project Co-ordinator, said the project, when completed, would provide 22,000 gallons of water per day to residents in Wa.

The project would also provide 53 standpipes along the route and about 32 additional pipes would be provided in Wa to complement the existing ones to make water more accessible to the people.

Constructional works and the laying of pipelines were progressing steadily with about 30 per cent of work already completed.

The project cost 51,486,000 dollars and would be completed in February 2016.