Ghana to build 30,000 portable toilets for poor urban households

2021-11-19 13:55:59 GMT2021-11-19 21:55:59(Beijing Time) Xinhua English

ACCRA, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Ghanaian government targets to build at least 30,000 toilets for poor urban households in the country's second city Kumasi as part of efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 6, an official told Xinhua.

George Asiedu, the Coordinator for the Ghana Sanitation and Water Project (SWP), said the four-year project, which commenced in August, is part of the measures by the government to end open defecation in the country.

"The SWP has received a new funding of 125 million U.S. dollars from the World Bank, and the first component of the funding will support 30,000 households in the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area (GKMA) to construct portable improved toilets," he disclosed.

The coordinator said the GKMA project would bear 70 percent of the cost of toilets for the low-income households to improve the sanitation situation in the beneficiary communities.

"The project will also provide 150 institutional toilets in schools and healthcare facilities in the targeted communities. The school toilet facilities will help girls remain in school during their menstrual cycles and improve the general sanitation conditions in the schools," Asiedu stated.

According to him, the project will further improve sanitation services in the communities through investments in wastewater and septic sludge management. It will also improve upon liquid waste and drainage management and invest in bio-digester sludge processing plants.

The GKMA project follows the successful implementation of the World Bank-funded Greater Accra Metropolitan Area SWP, which provided 33,385 toilet facilities for low-income households in the capital Accra between 2013 and 2020. Enditem

| PRINT | RSS