WA HOUSING PROJECT TO BEGIN THIS MONTH (PAGE 14)

THE Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alhaji Boniface Abubakar Saddique, has given the assurance that work on the proposed housing project in Wa, the Upper West regional capital, would commence by the end of June.
He said there would be no objection to any contractor who had been awarded a contract on the project.
Mr Saddique, who was on a tour of the region to ascertain the progress of work on projects under his ministry, also visited the 52-acre site, where he interacted with some of the landlords whose lands had been acquired for the project.
He appealed to them to exercise restraint and promised to facilitate the payment of their compensation, which is said to be close to GH¢90,000.
After the cutting of the sod for the commencement of the project on July 18, 2007, by the then Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Hackman Owusu Agyeman, not much has happened on the site.
On the provision of potable water for communities, Mr Saddique stressed the need for communities to own the water by paying for it.
This, he said, would encourage them to take good care of such facilities.
“Water should be a security item. We must place value on water as an economic asset and not social,” he emphasised.
The Regional Minister, Mr George Hickah Benson, appealed to the minister to do all in his power to facilitate the construction of the affordable houses since Wa was developing at a very fast pace,with its resultant accommodation problems.
Mr Benson also told him to work out modalities to enable occupants of low cost houses built some years back to be able to acquire them.
At Lawra in the Lawra District, the minister also inspected a new GH¢550,000 water tank project initiated by the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) and a newly built household sanitary facility.
The Lawra District Chief Executive, Mr George Sulley, for his part, announced the construction of 240 household latrines across the district, as well as 14 institutional latrines at a cost of GH¢360,000.
He also stressed the need to expand the water systems in the district to meet the demands of the increasing population.