By Nicholas Osei-Wusu
The Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area (GKMA), Water and Sanitation Project is on course to achieve its target of constructing 30,000 household toilet facilities within the Kumasi metropolis and the adjoining administrative districts by the next year’s end date.
As at the end of November 2023, the project had built a total of 16,720 household toilets, or 56 per cent of the target, less than two years into the project period.
The Project Coordinator, Ingineer George Asiedu, disclosed this at an end-of-year review meeting in Kumasi.
“At the moment, we’re vetting 1,300 people registering, and the progress of construction, we’re around 1,200 and a little over which is a good indication that, with the remaining 13 months, including this December, we should be able to achieve the 30, 000 target, hopefully by 2 months ahead of the project’s closing date. And this is very much assuring,” the Project Coordinator revealed.
Ingineer Asiedu announced plans to upscale the project to propel Ghana to attain Sustainable Development Goal 6.
He hoped, “SDG 6 is just about 7 years, and with this approach results working, if we set ourselves a date and scale up to cover other unserved areas, which we’re making efforts to coordinate, and to achieve that, we’ll be able to achieve Goal 6 by the year 2030.”
The Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area, GKMA Sanitation Project, is an upscale of the World Bank-funded water and sanitation project piloted in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area, which was adjudged to be successful.
The GKMA project has targeted the construction of a total of 30 thousand household toilets and more than 100 institutional sanitation facilities for interested households in the Kumasi Metropolis and the adjoining municipalities and districts.
The Project is the sanitation component of the Water and Sanitation initiative under the Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation to address the social problem of open defecation in the beneficiary areas.
With about a year left until the deadline, management and officials at the participating Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies directly in charge of the implementation have held a meeting to review the progress made so far and plan strategies toward achieving the target.
Management used the occasion to acknowledge and appreciate some of the participating Assemblies for their outstanding efforts on the projects so far, as well as some retired Environmental Health Officers for their contributions to the project before bowing out of active service.
Ejisu Municipal Assembly was recognized as the most outstanding participating assembly, followed by Atwima Kwanwoma, Kumasi, and Suame Municipal Assemblies.
They each received a plaque and cash ranging from one thousand Ghana cedis to three thousand Ghana cedis, while the retired Environmental Officers were given a Citation and cash of five thousand Ghana cedis each.
