MoneyGram has cut sod for the construction of a mechanized borehole for residents of Somanya Abokobi in the Yilo Krobo Municipality of the Eastern Region.

It follows a JOY FM Hotline documentary earlier this year which revealed residents do not have access to safe drinking water. For years, the residents in the area have been forced to walk long distances in search of water on a daily basis.

The only pipe-borne water in the community was constructed in 1957, but deteriorated over the years and is now out of use. Throwing light on their plight, Senior sub-Divisional Chief of the area, Nene Obu Nartey, said: “It’s a very difficult water situation we have here. It is very, very serious. During the dry season, people would travel about a mile before they get water, and even that one it’s only dirty water we get.”

“Now, we hope that our health situation would improve, and the sickness from drinking bad water would go away,” he said, at a durbar of the chiefs and people of the area to cut sod for the commencement of construction work.

Work is progressing steadily as the borehole has been sank already, the pumps are being laid, and samples of the water have been taken for chemical laboratory analysis, to ensure the water that would flow is of good quality. Senior Marketing Executive of MoneyGram Anglophone West Africa Kofi Akyea explained: “we are taking this one step further, so this is not a manual hand pump, it is a mechanized structure.”

The residents could not hide their joy as Senior Marketing Manager of MoneyGram West Africa, Sabine Bauchau, and other representatives from partner banks including Zenith Bank and Agricultural Development Bank sank the pick axe into the ground for the official commencement of the project, which is expected to be completed in a month’s time.

They explained the project is a show of their commitment to helping support rural communities in the country. The residents commended MoneyGram for responding rapidly to their plight, and assured they would do their best to support the project, and ensure adequate maintenance when completed.

Earlier this year, Joy news’ Evans Mensah, revealed the plight of the residents in a Hotline Documentary, which officials of MoneyGram responded to by initiating the construction of the mechanized bore hole. Now, the residents can now brief a sigh of relieve and expect clean water to flow in the coming weeks.

This is the second time MoneyGram is responding to the plight of a community in distress for clean water, following a Joy news report. In 2010, they constructed two boreholes for Asuboi, a community in the Ashanti region, after a report by Nhyira FM’s Ohemeng Tawiah.