Accra residents to get tanker services

Back page, August 27/2008

Story: Charles Benoni Okine

THE Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), in collaboration with Aqua Vitens Rand Limited (AVRL), operators of the urban water systems in the country, has deployed 40 water tankers to provide free water services to communities and areas to be affected by the 10-day shutdown of one of the main water booster stations in Accra.
The company has also mounted 14 other filling points within the metropolis to allow for easy loading of water by the water tankers including those doing commercial service.
The move is to help reduce the impact of the shutdown on consumers.
The acting Managing Director of the GWCL, Mr Kweku Botwe, who led a team of media personnel to the booster station at Okponglo in Accra yesterday, consequently called on those expected to benefit from the supplies to ensure that they were not short-changed by unscrupulous persons who may want to sell the water to them.
The company yesterday shut down the booster station to allow for final works to be done on the East-West Interconnection project of the company, which is expected to link the water supplies from the western and eastern parts of Accra to augment supplies.
A couple of years ago, the government raised funds to expand the Weija Water Treatment Plant to pump additional 15 million gallons of water to meet the growing demand of water in urban Accra.
When the media arrived at the booster station, the contractor on the project, Ballast Nedam, was busily replacing the old pipes with new ones while the giant water pumps, some of which had been running since the 1970s, were being changed to be able to effectively pump the additional water.
Mr Botwe said the project had become necessary to enable the company to serve more people in urban Accra.
He described the intervention as a wise decision, saying “with this we will be able to serve both the western and eastern parts of Accra with water”.
Mr Botwe expressed regret about the inconvenience the exercise might bring to the people but said it was necessary to ease the water shortages in the metropolis.
Mr Stanley Martey, Communications Manager of AVRL, said the company had ensured that its employees accompanied the tanker drivers to ensure that they served only the areas affected by the exercise.
He said all the tankers that had been deployed for the exercise had the company’s logo boldly posted on them to allow for easy identification.