Saltpond (C/R), April 29, GNA - Thirteen (13) Municipal and District Assemblies in the Central Region are to benefit from a 75-million-dollar World Bank facility to implement water and sanitation projects. The Bank is providing the facility through its subsidiary agency, the International Development Association (IDA), under the name 93IDA Sustaina= ble Rural Water and Sanitation Project". It is being launched in the beneficiary districts by the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), the project implementing agent. Launching the project in Mfantseman Municipality at Saltpond on Thursday, Ing (Engineer) Henry Asangbah of the CWSA said 200 boreholes woul= d be constructed in the Central Region within the period which ends in 2016. Ing Asangbah said the launching and education of stakeholders on what the project entailed were conditions set by the World Bank. He said the World Bank would provide 95 per cent of the fund whilst th= e Assemblies provided counterpart fund of five per cent. The CWSA engineer said the boreholes would be allocated on 300 people to one borehole basis.

Mr Gustav Osiakwan, a hydrologist also of CWSA, said the project would ensure that the boreholes were appropriately sited. He called for proper construction of sock-ways for effective drainage to prevent accumulation of stagnant water. Mr Osiakwan stressed on the need for proper siting of toilets in order not to use them to create nuisance. Madam Pauline Abrafi-Oppong, Extension Service Specialist of CWSA said CWSA would assist the Assemblies to either prepare project plan or upgrade what they had already prepared.

She said the communities must be allowed to come out with their needs, adding that the project must not be forced on the communities. Madam Abrafi-Oppong said the project was demand-driven and cautioned that no impediment would be allowed in the way of its implementation since it was time bound.

Mr Henry Kweku Hayfron, Municipal Chief Executive, said the high level of alkaline in the water along the coastal belt made water from boreholes constructed in those areas unsafe and appealed to the IDA Sustainable Water and Sanitation Project to device a mechanism to address that challenge. The MCE appealed to people, who would be implementing the project, to demonstrate a high sense of neutrality and maintain standard.