Weija Dam fence begins

Page 43, August 18/2008

Story: Charles Benoni Okine

THE Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has begun the construction of a fence to protect the catchment areas of the Weija Dam from encroachers.
The $6 million project is also intended to protect the water body, which is the main source of water supply for the people of the western and most of the eastern parts of Accra from further pollution.
The Managing Director of the company, Mr Cobbie Kessie Jnr, told the Daily Graphic in Accra that the project would cover a distance of more than six kilometres.
The project, which has become necessary in view of the massive encroachment of the land by estate developers whom most of the lands are sold to by some unscrupulous personalities who claim to be the owners of the land.
The nature of the encroachment is such that most of the residents have directed their faecal waste and other waste water to the river while others have turned the river into a refuse dump.
At the beginning of the year, GWCL in conjunction with the officers from the National Security office embarked on a massive demolition exercise to rid the area of the encroachers but the move was short-lived after a huge protestation from those affected.
It was against this background that the GWCL decided to fence the remaining land around the catchment area of the dam to save it from further encroachment.
Sources close to the company said the amount of chemicals used for the treatment of the water from the dam had almost reached its maximum because of the heavy pollution and feared that continuous pollution of the water might create problems for those who depended on it.
Mr Kessie said a large chunk of the operational expenses of the Weija Head Works went into the acquisition of chemicals and noted that the project would have a positive long-term effect as the amount spent on chemicals would be reduced.
He said the company had encountered some challenges since the project started but they were being addressed as the project continued.
Mr Kessie mentioned some of the challenges as the demand for the payment of compensation and the employment of some of the indigenes from whom the land was acquired for the Weija Water Works.
“We are talking to them and we hope we will reach an amicable settlement in due course,” he added.