By Grace Zigah
Communities along Accra’s eastern coastal stretch — including Teshie, Nungua, Spintex, Sakumono, and La — are facing another wave of water shortages following the latest shutdown of the Teshie-Nungua Desalination Plant.
The closure, announced by Ghana Water Limited (GWL) on Tuesday, has reignited public frustration over what many residents see as years of failed promises and mismanagement surrounding one of the most expensive water projects.
The plant was actually shutdown over a month ago with residents crying for water supply. The affected areas hardly get two days of water supply from the Kpone Water Treatment Plant instead of the regular supply they are used to.
From Promise To Problem
The Teshie-Nungua Desalination Plant, commissioned in 2015 at a cost of $126 million, was heralded as a game-changer in the water supply system.
The project was built to treat seawater into potable water for more than 250,000 residents across several coastal communities who had long suffered from irregular water supply.
Constructed under a public-private partnership (PPP) agreement between the Government of Ghana and the Spanish company Befesa Desalination Development Ghana Ltd, the plant operated on a 25-year Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) model.
The arrangement was expected to reduce dependence on the Weija and Kpong treatment plants, which often struggled to meet the water demands of Greater Accra’s rapidly expanding population.
However, the project soon turned into a source of controversy. Barely three years after its launch, the plant was shut down in 2018 over mounting operational costs and contractual disputes between Befesa and the then Ghana Water Company Limited (now Ghana Water Limited).
Government officials at the time described the project as financially “unsustainable,” claiming that it cost nearly GHS 6 million per month to maintain operations — a burden that was not reflected in water tariffs.
The Current Shutdown: Old Problems Resurface
According to GWL’s latest statement, the plant has been taken offline once again due to unresolved contractual issues and critical maintenance challenges that threaten both operational safety and water quality.
“After several technical assessments, management has concluded that continued operations at this stage pose significant risks to system integrity and public health,” GWL said.
“We are therefore initiating a temporary shutdown to allow for urgent interventions and to renegotiate key contractual bottlenecks.”
The company further revealed that ongoing disputes with Befesa over cost-sharing and operational control had stalled progress on essential upgrades, including the replacement of aging filtration components and restoration of key mechanical systems that have not seen proper servicing in years.
Impact on Residents
The shutdown has already started affecting thousands of households in Teshie, Nungua, and surrounding communities, where taps have gone dry and residents are turning to private tanker services and sachet water vendors to meet daily needs.
Small business owners, especially food vendors and laundries, are also counting their losses as they struggle to access affordable water.
The tanker drivers are making brisk business, cashing on the unfortunate situation.
