Ghana: 662 Pipeline Extensions Laid Across the Country – Dr Clifford Abdallai Braimah

Six hundred and sixty-two kilometres of pipelines have been laid throughout the country to supply water to towns and villages.

In addition, 15km of distribution network improvement work has been completed at $6.5 million.

The Managing Director of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Dr Clifford Abdallai Braimah, disclosed this on Thursday at a press briefing in Accra.

He further noted that 14 Automatic Voltage Regulators (AVRs) were installed at a cost of GH₵12.3 million at the worst affected systems to mitigate the impact of unstable power which currently accounts for 40% of total plant downtime nationwide.

“Barekese, Odaso, Konongo, Aframso, Achiase, Kwanyako, Bafikrom, Essakyir, Sekyere Hemang, Keseve and Nsawam Treatment Plants have AVRs. Kwahu -Tafo and Sowutuom Booster stations also had AVRs installed,” he stressed.

Dr Braimah also disclosed that GWCL invested GH₵40.0 million in treatment capacity improvement, which included pump replacement, installation of AVRs and submersible pumps, and dredging of intakes at Sekyere Hemang, Owabi, Winneba and Nsawam.

He indicated that the electronic billing and payment systems introduced in 2015 to reduce billing errors and make payments easier, had increased revenue from GH₵1.7 million in 2017 to GH₵13.2 million in 2018 and also increased astronomically to GH₵64.3 million in 2021, an increase of 387.5%.

“Currently, monthly average revenues realized from electronic payment stands at GH₵9.3 million and are expected to rise to GH₵11.1 million by the end of 2022,” he added.

He further disclosed that GWCL had commenced a drone metering system for meter readings which would simplify the meter reading and billing processes to the advantage of both the customer and GWCL.

“The drone deployment would ensure the safety of meter readers while enhancing speed in the overall meter reading exercise,” he emphasized.

Dr Braimah mentioned illegal mining and sand-winning activities, frequent power outages, vandalization of transmission pipelines and illegal connections as some of the challenges the company faced.