Piina (U/W), April 26, GNA - The German Embassy in Ghana has provided a mechanised borehole for Piina Senior High School in the Lambussie/Karni District.

The project was funded with small grants from the Embassy at a cost of 20,423.76 Ghana cedis and the International Centre for Enterprise and Sustainable Development (ICED), a non-governmental organisation, implemented it.

Mr. Hans Christian Winkler, Deputy Ambassador of Germany in Ghana who inaugurated the project, said it was good that the Embassy was partnering the government to provide potable water for the school. He said Germany would continue to support the government to implement projects to improve the living standards of the people. He said both countries were in the fight together to improve the economies and livelihoods of their people and they must work harder towards the attainment of their aspirations.

Mr. Clement B. Benin, Lambussie/Karni District Chief Executive, said German intervention in the water sector was commendable. He said the Embassy had executed two mechanised borehole projects for a cluster of basic schools in Lambussie and the Piina Senior High School and that had helped to reduce the incidence of water borne diseases among school children in the area. Mr Benin reminded the Embassy of the promise it made to the physically challenged at Karni to provide wire fence and build irrigation channels in their gardens.

Professor Emmanuel K. Boon, Chairman of the International Centre for Enterprise and Sustainable Development, said the provision of potable would help encourage teachers to accept posting to the school. He said the provision of potable water was one of the surest ways of addressing poverty but expressed regret that water resources in the country were declining and becoming increasingly unpredictable due to climate change.

He said people in the rural communities were most vulnerable because of their over dependence on seasonal water sources and called for adoption of strategies to ensure effective water and sanitation management.

Prof. Boom appealed to the German Embassy to assist the Lambussie Community to harness water from the Lambussie Valley for all year-round vegetable and rice production. The Piina Kuoru, Bagiro Abass said he was happy that students would no longer use their morning sessions to look for water from unsafe sources.

He appealed to the Embassy to help provide some of the communities that did not have access to potable water with mechanised boreholes and also consider the rehabilitation of the Piina Dam to promote dry season vegetable and livestock production. Mr. Martin M. Kuuzume, Headmaster of the Piina Senior High School, appealed for support in the provision of teachers and students' accommodation, means of transport and the extension of electricity to the school.