Asutifi North District Assembly on Monday, November 28 commissioned a USD 220,000.00 water station for Kenyasi No. 1 under its Asutifi North Ahonidie Mpuntuo (ANAM) Initiative.
The project which is estimated to provide sustainable safe water to 12,000 people in Kenyasi No.1 and its environs was jointly financed by the Assembly, World Vision, and Safe Water Network.
In 2017, the Assembly, IRC, and some Conrad Hilton Foundation grantees started the ANAM Initiative to implement a thirteen-year WASH Masterplan to promote sustainable access to safe water, basic sanitation, and hygiene services within the district.
District Chief Executive, Hon. Anthony Mensah in a plea to the people, said, “The work they are doing here is for us, the people of Kenyasi. Those assigning metres and connecting the water are humans… Let us give them the deserved respect. Don’t go and insult them if there are misunderstandings. We all want water in our homes. Some of the reports I am getting are terrible”.
He added, “Work is ongoing to repeat a similar project at Kenyasi No. 2 to solve water access issues there. Every community will have its independent water management teams”.
Jeremiah Atengdem (IRC)remarked that “This commissioning today is ample demonstration of the collective efforts of the partners working collaboratively through the ANAM partnership to deliver water services to the residents of the Kenyasi 1”. He however announced to the gathering that based on the good lessons learnt from Asutifi North District, the initiative has been expanded to three new districts namely Asunafo North, Asunafo South, and Tano North in the Ahafo Region which they are working with the districts, RCC and the CNHF partners to achieve universal WASH services.
National Director for World Vision Ghana, Dickens Thunde in a statement at the ceremony expressed excitement and gratitude for their partnership with Asutifi North District Assembly and Safe Water Network. “This is because the purview of partnership is not limited to pooling resources- financial, skill, and expertise- to deliver safe water to children and communities; but it also includes knowledge sharing and capacity building in the area of design and implementation of market-based water supply solutions”, he added.
He further acknowledged Safe Water Network for training staff of World Vision Ghana and Asutifi North District Assembly to become familiar with the H2OME model which operates on small water enterprise-based principles.
Head of Commercial Services for Safe Water Network, Joseph Sam Cherbu in a statement at the ceremony said, “…over the past ten years, Safe Water Network has invested in demonstrating how to provide safe water and keep it running… We, launching a water station is just the start of the journey. The real work lies ahead. That is, to keep the taps running at all times and deliver safe and quality water of the highest standard”.
Saamanheneof Kenyasi No. 1 and Chairperson of the ceremony, Nana Anim Danquah in his closing remarks expressed gratitude to the partners for the project and called on the management of the station to be diligent in their work. He further added that “Kindly announce prior if the pump is to be closed for maintenance works to be done so people can plan ahead of schedule.
To ensure the sustainability of the project, all connections are operating on prepaid meters.
