World Bank lends US $74M for sanitation and water in Kumasi

The World Bank has provided the government of Ghana US $74million to finance sanitation and drinking water in the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area.

This follows a previous US $125million granted by the bank for the same project. Ghana’s Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah made the announcement and said this additional loan from the international financial institution will be used to complete work on the Kumasi site.

The project will benefit eight municipalities. Part of the recently allocated funds will be used to build 30,000 household toilets for low-income people in the Kumasi metropolitan area. Sanitary blocks will also be built in schools and health centers.

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Project scope

Through this project, the Government of Ghana hopes to reduce open defecation in the greater Kumasi area, including the municipalities of Kumasi, Asokwa, Kwadaso, Old Tafo, Oforikrom, Ejisu, Suame and Asokore Mampong. According to the International Water Association (IWA), in 2019, 22% of Ghanaians still practiced open defecation, including 4.2 million people in rural areas where the practice is particularly prevalent.

The drinking water component of the project in Kumasi consists of the installation of 120 km of pipes. The new facilities will connect 10,000 vulnerable households to the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) drinking water network, “representing about 150,000 people living in the project areas,” said Minister Abena Dapaah at the launch of the project in September 2020.

This component will also support the improvement of the GWCL’s operational efficiency. According to the Ghanaian government, the various facilities will be fully operational by 2024.