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The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has embarked on $406-million worth expansion projects aimed at adding 65.4 million gallons of water per day to the existing production from the Kpong and Weija head works. The projects � the Kpong Water Supply Expansion Project, Kpong Intake Rehabilitation Project, Teshie Desalination Plant Project and ATMA Rural Expansion Project � are scheduled to be completed by 2015. A source at the GWCL revealed this to The Finder in an exclusive interview. According to the source, the Kpong and Weija head works currently have a total production of 90 million gallons per day. The Kpong Water Supply Expansion Project and the Kpong Intake Rehabilitation Project would add additional 43.2 million gallons per day to the existing 44 million gallons water treatment capacity at Kpong, the source noted. The Finder gathered that the Kpong Intake Rehabilitation Project was also expected to increase the supply of raw water to the existing treatment plants at Kpong. Both the Kpong Water Supply Expansion Project and Kpong Intake Rehabilitation Project are estimated at US$273 million and �16.5 million respectively, with the Government of Ghana responsible for the investment cost. The ATMA Rural Expansion Project is also expected to produce 9.2 million gallons of water per day to serve the peri-urban areas in the Accra and Tema metropolitan area. Some beneficiary towns include Dodowa, Adukrom, Somanya, Krobo, Atimpoku, Dawhenya and Michelle Camp. The source said the Teshie Desalination Project, which is estimated at US$110 million, would add 13 million gallons per day to the Accra system and would be funded by an investor through a public-private partnership (PPP). The desalination project is meant to serve the Teshie-Nungua area, which happens to be located at the extreme ends of both the Kpong and Weija water systems, and also industries along the Baatsona and Spintex roads. Despite its planned interventions to ensure the urban population�s access to potable water, the GWSC is still confronted with some seemingly intractable challenges. Among these are high levels of non-revenue water as a result of high rate of illegal connections, flat rate billing, faulty metering devices and leakages/burst. According to GWCL, because the company was lacking water metres for over 35 per cent of its customers, such customers had been put on a flat rate. The company also faces possible compensation claims for projects undertaken in the country. The source said as a result of the poor planning in our cities and towns, water facilities and pipeline trajectories often pass through people�s lands and farms. It is the responsibility of government to pay compensation to the affected people for projects to progress as planned. But delays in payment of compensation often lead to temporary suspension of the projects. Poor urban planning and lack of collaboration among other public institutions like the Town & Country Planning, and Roads and Highways were also hampering the works of the GWCL. The short and medium-term goal of the GWCL, as far as Accra is concerned, is to ensure that 85 per cent of the urban population has access to potable water by 2015 and 100 per cent by 2025, the source added.