Accra, July 23, GNA – Government has initiated the construction of 654 boreholes nationwide, out of which 621 are to be fitted with hand-pumps and 33, mechanized.
A total of 433 of the boreholes have been drilled and water quality and pumping tests conducted with the rest at various stages of completion.
Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance, announced this in the 2020 Mid-Year Budget Review in Parliament on Thursday.
He said Government also procured pumps to be installed on successfully drilled boreholes and that when completed the project would provide potable water to about 220,000 people.
The Minister said Government also launched “a Street Litter Bin Campaign” to ensure proper disposal of refuse along major and principal streets.
“A total of 7,000 (240-litre) waste bins were deployed to aid the proper disposal of waste in selected MMDAs within the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Western, Central, Oti, and Eastern Regions, as well as state institutions,” he said.
The Finance Minister said: “In addition, the Greater Accra Sustainable Sanitation and Livelihoods Project procured 1,000 (120-litre) waste bins to support the initiative. A US-based company also donated 100 (240-litre) waste bins to support this laudable initiative”.
The government, he said, also acquired 65.5 acres of land at Ayidan in the Ga South Municipality for the construction of sustainable state-of-the-art waste treatment facilities.
Also, as part of the sustainable management of landfill sites, the Government has initiated a process to decommission and re-engineer existing landfill sites at Kpone-on-sea in the Kpone—Katamanso Municipality and Oti in the Kumasi metropolis.
Mr Ofori-Atta said 982 out of 2,000 household toilets were constructed in selected MMDAs in the Ashanti, Western, Central, and Northern Regions with the sole aim of reducing open defecation.
He said the rest were at various stages of completion, saying, the construction of 35 institutional toilets for selected second cycle schools, post-secondary, and other institutions was also ongoing.
GNA