Parliament of Ghana
An Amount of $48.1 million has been approved by Parliament for the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL).
It is meant for the provision of water to some parts of Accra under a proposed Greater Accra Metropolitan Area Sanitation and Water Project (GSWP), which has attracted an overall grant of $150 million from the International Development Association.
In approving the loan, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Sekondi and member of the Finance Committee of the House, Papa Owusu-Ankomah, urged Parliament to exercise proper oversight over the GWCL so that the money is used for the intended purpose.
‘I want to remind Parliament of its financial oversight responsibilities as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution and the Standing Orders of the House,’ he said, stressing that the Constitution had given them the mandate to ensure effective financial oversight over state-owned enterprises.
According to the MP, ‘This is an area where there could be a lot of leakages in terms of financial outlays, and therefore it is incumbent on Parliament, after approving such amount of money, to exercise its constitutional mandate of ensuring that there is value for money.
He called on Parliament, particularly the Select Committee on Water Resources, Works Housing, to periodically invite the Managing Director of the Ghana Water Company to give updates on how the money approved for the Accra project is being used.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Shai-Osudoku, David Tetteh
Assumeng, who is also the Chairman of the Committee, said his outfit would monitor the execution of the project with keen interest to ensure that the right thing is done.
‘We, as a Committee, will make sure the programme is effectively implemented,’ he stated.
He called on GWCL to ensure that all loopholes in its operations are plugged in order to make the project a successful venture.
The Finance Committee’s report, as presented by the Chairman, James Klutse Avedzi before the amount was approved, indicated that the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development had been tasked to implement the sanitation component of the GSWP at the cost of $101.9 million.
The report said that while urban population grew by 5.4 million people between 1990 and 2010, access to pipe-borne water declined from 37 percent to 27 percent within the same period – meaning only 800,000 urban dwellers gained access to pipe-borne water and that if the above trend continued only two out of 10 urban dwellers would have access to pipeborne water in the foreseeable future.
Areas that are to be covered under the expanded water project are Adentan, Ashaiman, La Dadekotopon, Ledzokuku/Krowor, La Nkwantanan, Ga South, Ga West, Ga Central, Tema and Accra Metropolitan Areas.
By Thomas fosu Jnr
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