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The Royal Bank (TRB) Foundation has constructed three boreholes for three communities in the North Tongu District.
It followed a February 12, 2015 Daily Graphic publication which highlighted the unavailability of potable water in the Bukarikope, Zorkope and Abortia communities and surrounding villages.

The three communities were among five communities selected in the Volta Region by the foundation to have such facilities. The other communities that benefitted were Kudzagbakope and Atidome in the Akatsi North district.

For more than two years, residents of the three communities were cut off from potable water supply due to a damage caused to their pipelines as a result of the construction of the new road from Juapong to the Senchi ferry site.

The people faced serious water problems necessitating the residents of Bukarikope and Zorkope to rely on an old dam constructed by Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, to meet their water needs, while those at Abortia and surrounding villages travelled far to fetch water from streams.

Their difficulty became worse during the harmattan season when the dam they relied on dried up and the little water in it turned muddy.

Their dependence on the untreated water fetched from streams and the dam created a lot of health challenges for the people, especially children, some of whom suffered waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea, typhoid and Bilharzia.
Sixty projects yearly

At the ceremony to inaugurate the boreholes, the Chairman of the Royal Bank Foundation, Mr Faustell Cofie, indicated that the foundation believed that water was life, hence the need to help the communities.
He advised the people to maintain the facilities as proper use of them could provide them with the needed water for the next 20 years.

Necessity of development stories

The head of strategic planning, research and corporate affairs of the foundation, Dr Kwame Baah-Nuakoh, observed that it was important for the media to focus on development stories which brought real change to the people.

According to him, there were many companies with resources to support people in need but they were unable to link up with such people.

The former assembly member of Ayimagonu in the North Tongu District, Mr Benjamin Dadedzi, commended the management of the foundation for helping the communities.