Kumasi, Dec 8, GNA - A total population of 692,500 people in five districts in Ashanti will next year be provided with potable water and sanitation facilities under the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project.

The project will involve the construction of 806 boreholes, equipped with pumps, 15 rainwater harvesting systems, two small town pipe schemes, 20,188 household toilets, as well as 100 shed septic tanks.

Mr Sampson Kwaku Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister, who announced this in a speech read on his behalf at the launch of a rural water and sanitation project in Kumasi on Thursday, said the project, would be funded by the African Development Bank (ADB). He named the beneficiary districts as Atwima-Mponua, Atwima-Nwabiagya, Afigya-Sekyere, Kwabre and Asante-Akim South. The project, Mr Boafo said is expected to increase water supply and sanitation coverage in the region by 17 percent and eight percent respectively and that it would also contribute to the regional coverage from 44 percent to 61 percent.

Mr Boafo commended the government and development partners like ADB, German Government, World Bank, World Vision and others for their efforts to assist improve community water supply systems in the country. He appealed to the beneficiary district assemblies, water boards and other relevant bodies to ensure proper maintenance of the facilities when they are provided.

Mr Boafo called on the assemblies to make reasonable provision in their budgets to motivate people who have been trained to manage those facilities.

Mr Daniel Amankwah Boateng, Zonal Hydro-Geologist of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), said one of the objectives of the community and water sanitation project was to provide facilities to communities that would contribute towards the capital cost and pay the normal operations maintenance and repair cost of their facilities. He said the project was to maximize health benefits by integrating water, sanitation and hygiene promotion interventions, including the establishment of hygiene promotion and latrine construction capabilities at the community level.