9 Firms short-listed for water delivery programme
NINE foreign companies have been pre-qualified to bid for participation in a partnership with Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) to provide potable water in the country.
Out of the number, two of the companies will be selected to operate in each of the two business units of the country.
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The companies, which have been pre-qualified for Business Unit ‘A’, which is the Greater Accra, Volta, Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions are: Saur of France; SKANAKS of Sweden; International Water, UK; NUON of Holland; Biwater, UK; Generale Des-Eaux and Suez Lynnaisse Des-Eaux, both of France.
For Business Unit ‘B’, involving Brong Ahafo, Western, Ashanti, Eastern and Central regions, the companies are: Saur of France; International Water of UK; Vivendi of France and Northumbrain and Taylor Woodrow, also of UK.
Mr Emmanuel Nkrumah, Water Engineer of the Water Sector Restructuring Secretariat of the Ministry of Works and Housing, who disclosed this in an interview, said the actual bidding process will commence in the middle of next year and it is expected to last for about four months.
He said bidding documents are being prepared after which the bids will be opened.
Mr Nkrumah said even after the final two have been selected, the sector ministry and the Attorney-General’s Department will also have to carefully conduct an assessment of the companies after which the result will be
taken to Cabinet for onward submission to Parliament for final approval.
He explained that the delays in the process, although not deliberate, was to ensure that all the necessary concerns of stakeholders, including the public and the operators, have been adequately addressed.
He said the Public Utility and Regulatory Commission (PURC) and the GWCL are instrumental in all the processes to ensure that the benchmarks are well supervised and regulated.
Mr Nkrumah, who was speaking in the presence of Mr Kwamena Longdon and Captain Victor Ansah, both officials of the secretariat, mentioned the benchmarks as the production of water, water quality, number of people to be served and the hours of delivery, among others.
He said it is necessary to ensure that the targets set are reasonable and achievable both for the operators and the government.
Mr Nkrumah denied allegations that the process is being fast-tracked and said, an agreement to lease GWCL was mooted in 1994 and was agreed upon the following year.
Mr Longdon and Captain Ansah, in their contribution, said the secretariat is aware of the need to create the public awareness about the programme and all the necessary moves are being explored to that effect.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Yaw Barimah, who also spoke in an interview earlier, said the efficient delivery of potable water to the people of Ghana is dear to the heart of government and gave the assurance that all the necessary processes are underway to complete the exercise.
Mr Barimah appealed to Ghanaians not to allow any negative ideological and entrenched positions of a few people to cloud their minds on the public, private sector participation of water delivery in the country.
He explained that the government insists on inviting fresh capital and management into the water delivery system because in spite of the huge sums of money being pumped into the operations of GWCL, it is not able to deliver to the best of its ability.
