The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Mr. Joseph Kofi Adda, has said the Ministry is, engaging with Safe Water Network, a non-governmental organisation based in US, to provide its Small Water Enterprises groups the support to improve water supply to communities, in the rural and urban areas.
According to him, government has committed 82 million dollars to fund the sector, whereas the development partners also contributed 32 million dollars, leaving a funding gap of 832 million dollars.
He noted that, an estimate of about one billion dollars is needed as an annual investment in the water supply sector, to meet the SDG requirement.
Mr. Kofi Adda said, the access to basic social amenities including water supply remained a critical priority for the government, thus, government is very committed to achieving its vision of providing safe, reliable and affordable water for all.
Other areas being focused he said, includes the strengthening of institutional structures of the Ministry to bring increased focus on public private partnerships and business development efforts at all levels and also create a more conducive policy environment for small water enterprises.
Hon. Joseph Kofi Adda was speaking at the opening of the sixth annual ‘Beyond the Pipe Forum 2018’ on Wednesday, March 14th 2018 in Accra, organised by Safe Water Network aimed at bringing together sector leadership to deliberate on small water enterprises (SWEs) and also harmonize actions that could contribute to achieving the sustainable and safely managed water services which conforms with the SDG 6.1
“When I addressed the Forum last year, I was the new Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, barely one month in the newly created Ministry. Now that I have been in the position for a year, I have an even greater appreciation of the role that small water enterprises can play to help achieve the Ministry’s vision of water for all by 2025, and SDG 6.1 for safely managed water supply by 2030,” he said.
Mr. Charles Nimako, the Country Director of SWN, underscored that, the SWN could achieve its objectives by addressing the requirements for success, which included financing a network of skilled implementers along with the required toolkits, supportive supervision, regulation, a conducive policy and enabling environment for replication.
He emphasized that, to bring together innovative partners in a collaborative event, “We can’t do it by ourselves. That is why we are here today talking about how we bring other implementers on board to support not just Safe Water Network, but also the entire sector”
He however lauded the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, for their tremendous contribution to Ghana’s water sector, adding that, both partners have invested in the sector for decades.
The event brought together key stakeholders from the Ghana water sector, representatives of government, the private sector, NGOs, funding partners like the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Stone Family Foundation, Newman’s Own Foundation, the Osprey Foundation, The Vitol Foundation, The Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility, GSMA Mobile for Development Utilities; and many others.
By: Sammy Adjei/Newsghana.com.gh
