The PWD Transfer Saga�Minister Set The Records Straight

The Minister for Water Resource Works and Housing, Hon. Collins Dauda has said the Ministry�s decision to transfer the �former Engineer in-Chief� of the Public Workers Department (PWD) Mr. Rockson Yeboah to the ministry of Water Resource Works and Housing as the Technical Adviser was due to the experience the former engineer has in the housing sector. According to him the assistance of the �former PWD engineer� as technical adviser would help the ministry to progress in the works and housing sector of the country. He said the ministry had no knowledge of policemen going to retrieve any property from the house of the �former PWD Engineer In-Chief.� The Minister made this known when he addressed the press in Accra. Meanwhile a source close to the �former PWD Engineer In-chief� has hinted the Ghana Palava that Mr. Rockson Yeboah has accepted the transfer. The Minister in his address stated that available data has puts the Housing deficit in Ghana in excess of 1.7 million housing units. �There is the need for a minimum annual delivery of about 85,000 housing units over the next 20 years. It is therefore Government�s Policy to facilitate access to housing especially for the middle to low income earners who feel the stress most� he noted. According to him Government is not relenting in her efforts at getting the problem addressed and this is evident in the various interventions by government. He said Government is working towards the completion of the 4,720 Affordable Housing units located at six sites in five regions which includes Greater Accra, Ashanti, Northern, Upper West and Eastern. He added that the Ministry has allocated the Kpone site to the Tema Development Corporation for completion. According to him The State Housing Company Ltd, is working on five blocks of flats of Seventy-Two (72) units at Bortyman, and is about 90% complete. He said the security service have also been allocated five blocks of forty housing units complete for their occupation. Touching on the water sector the Minister stated that in 2001 urban water coverage was estimated at 56% while rural water was 41%. As at the end of 2008, urban and rural water coverage in the country was 58.5% and 56.5% respectively. He added that in 2009, NDC Government set for itself to increase the coverage of urban water to 7% by 2015. he said by the end of 2012, the urban water coverage had improved from 58.5% to 63%, an increase of 4.5% within 4 years and rural water coverage also has improved from 56.5% to 64% showing an increase of 7.5%. According to him the government has put in place a number of interventions which will address the shortage for the water sector to achieve the coverage targets. The Ministry revealed that water supply to the Greater Accra Metropolitan Areas (GAMA) forms about 60% of the total supply of potable water in Ghana. He added that Kpong and Weija treatment plants are the major water treatment plants serving GAMA, with a total production capacity of 93 million gallons a day Weija produces 53 million gallons while Kpong generates 40 million gallons per day. The Minister stated that Kpong Water Supply Expansion Project is being carried out at an estimated cost of US$273 million with funding from the Government of Ghana and China Exim Bank. The project is envisaged to increased water supply to GAMA by 40 million gallons per day adding that Water will be supplied from Klpong through Dodowa to the Terminal Reservoirs at Okponglo, Madina and Boi. This he said would improve water supply to areas including Adenta, Madina, Kwabenya, Ashongmang, North, East Legon, Ashaley Botwe, Haatso, Boi, Asofaa, Dome and many others. He said the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2014 ahead of the scheduled contractual completion date of June, 2015, adding that the project is 73% complete.