Adentan residents call for solution to water supply problems
Residents of Adentan in Accra have expressed concern about the bottlenecks in water delivery to the area.
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Though water delivery in the area has seen some improvement recently, some residents have still not been connected to the main service lines.
At a water forum organised by Intervention Forum (IF), a non-governmental organisation and the Resident Associations in Adentan, participants raised issues about paying high cost for the laying of pipes to their homes, billing challenges and flooding.
The forum, which was themed “call for improvements in quality of service delivery in the Adentan Municipality,” also discussed collaboration among the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Department of Urban Roads, and the Adentan Municipal Assembly (AdMA), to ensure quality delivery of services and solution to flooding in some parts of the area.
MCE’s response
At the forum, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Intervention Forum and the focal person for the Adentan Citizens’ Forum, Ms Nora Ollennu, said with the decentralisation of authority, it was expected that the service delivery sector would be responsive to the needs of the people.
The accountability relationship between local authorities and service providers, she said, was weak and needed to be strengthened.
For his part, the Adentan Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Benjamin Baroson Angenu, said though the municipality had experienced perennial water problems for a long time, residents should be grateful to the government for its initiative to improve the situation since 2014.
He said about 95 per cent of residents were yet to be connected to the water supply system because pipelines in some parts were yet to be laid.
While residents waited for the government to secure funds for the laying of pipelines, he said, some residents had volunteered to contribute for the connection to be made to their homes from the main pipelines.
“Per this arrangement, over 20 kilometres of pipelines had been laid by the GWCL in communities where the residents accepted to pay. This alternative is the only option available now as government pursues a loan facility for the pipeline layout construction.”
He advocated that home owners must sacrifice to contribute to the laying of pipelines in their communities under the self help initiative.
On flooding in the area, he stated that though flooding was a challenge “some of the flooding has been artificial because some people have built on watercourses and inappropriate places.”
According to him, it was, therefore, the responsibility of all stakeholders to join forces to kick against the construction of houses and structures on watercourses.
Mr Bansah D. Appiatse, a Customer Care supervisor of the Adentan Ghana Water Company Limited, expressed worry about the use of private plumbers to connect water into homes illegally.
“There are lots of illegal water connections in this area. If you want water, come to our office,” Mr Appiatse said.
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