The Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area (GKMA) under the Sanitation and Water Project (SWP) has built 16,720.000 toilet facilities within a period of two years towards fighting against open defecation in the metropolis.
The toilet facilities were provided with the support of GKMA the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources and the World Bank.
Ingineer George Asiedu, Coordinator of Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) and GKMA, stated on last Friday, November 15, 2023, that the project is targeted to provide 30,000 household toilet facilities between the year 2022 and 2024.
Ing Asiedu disclosed this at the end of year event organized in Kumasi to take a stock of their performance in the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area.
Ing George Asiedu, presenting an award to Mr Isaac Basaanyo, a former KMA Sanitation and Environmental health officer, other retirees and Assemblies, says so far the project has been able to achieve about 57% target while about 1,300 people have registered to benefit from the provision of the household toilet facility.
According to him, the project is set to benefit households with 10 residents and above. Despite supporting 16,720.000 households with the toilet facilities, there is still about 14,000 to go.
If things go as planned, they should be doing 1,283 households in a month to enable them reached their target in 10 months.
The project was necessitated posed by open defecation, which continues to be a challenge in Kumasi.
Before the last population census, open defecation was six percent (6%) in Kumasi but increased by 2% points, posing severe public health risk to residents
The coordinator also assembled all his team members and congratulated them for their dedication, as their effort is yielding positive results and encouraged them to continue in the coming year.
He appealed to the government through the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources to scale up the project to other districts, especially in the Ashanti region.
