Kumasi, Ghana

Kumasi, the second largest city in Ghana, is located in the south-central part of the country and has a population of about 2.5 million. It is a commercial centre of Ghana and the main transport hub. Because of its strategic location, Kumasi has a large transient and immigrant population from rural areas of Ghana and from other countries in West Africa.

It is the fastest growing city in Ghana with a population growth rate that has outstripped the supply of roads, housing and public utilities. There is a growing concern about environmental degradation due to poor sanitation and pollution of waterways. More than 900,000 people lack access to safe drinking water and nearly 1.5 million people lack access to improved sanitation facilities.

The Oforikrom Water and Sanitation (OWAS) programme was started in February 2007 and focuses on delivering clean water, improved sanitation and hygiene education to 108,000 inhabitants of five low-income urban and peri-urban communities in the Oforikrom constituency of Kumasi Metropolis. The programme will also build the capacity of local service providers (LSPs) to sustain the provision of those services over time. The five communities are Oforikrom, Adukrom, Akorem, Kotei and Gyenyase.

More than 70% of residents of the target communities use about 9% of their monthly income to purchase water from private vendors. With the improved provision of water supply by the programme, the residents will have a more reliable water supply and spend less than 5% of their income on water.

More than 77% of residents do not have access to improved sanitation. These residents currently walk an average of about 600 meters to community toilets, which are in very poor conditions. The programme will provide modern community toilet facilities which will reduce the distance to about 200 meters.

Key Achievements to Date

Demonstrated models of service delivery to the urban poor

• Sustainable, decentralised water service model defined by local stakeholders for the programme area (Kotei, Kumasi) relevant to the city’s 500,000 low income consumers

• Demonstration system under construction, to serve 20,000 peri-urban residents

• Communal latrine ownership, management and operations model developed for Kotei and demonstration facility under construction

Strengthened institutional capacity to sustain improvement process

• Principles of more commercially viable community toilets drafted in from Kenya and adopted by municipal authority in Kumasi

• Financial models developed to assess the commercial viability of different water service levels from operator to peri-urban communities

Investment mobilised for scale up of models

• WSUP programme informing renegotiation of existing water management contract with a view to leveraging

• Private sector research and development funding initiating innovative sanitation service model trial