Chinese Government provides $20 million grant for Well-Drilling Project

Project narrative

On December 8, 2015, the Chinese Government signed a $12 million grant agreement with the Government of Ghana for a Well-Drilling Project. The grant agreement was signed by Sun Baohong, Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, and Seth Terkper, Minister of Finance of Ghana. The funds for this project were drawn from an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) that was signed by the Chinese Government and the Government of Ghana on December 15, 2015. The monetary value of the grant was later increased to $20 million. The project that was originally envisaged involved the drilling of 1,000 water wells (boreholes) in the Brong Ahafo Province (148 boreholes), Eastern Province (162 boreholes), Western Province (148 boreholes), Northern Province (155 boreholes), Upper East Province (8 boreholes), Central Province (10 boreholes), Upper West Province (8 boreholes), Volta Province (148 boreholes), Ashanti Province (28 boreholes), and Greater Accra Province (13 boreholes). The ultimate objective of the project was to increase access to potable water and reduce the prevalence of water-borne diseases. Jiangxi Zhongmei Engineering Construction Company Limited — a borehole drilling company — was the contractor responsible for implementation and its work was overseen by Ghana’s Ministry of Water Resources, Works, and Housing. The originally expected project implementation start and end dates were January 11, 2016 and November 30, 2018, respectively. Construction actually began on December 23, 2015 and ended on December 23, 2018. The project was officially completed and handed over to the Ghanaian authorities on February 2, 2019. The project ultimately resulted in the drilling of 1,029 water supply wells (boreholes). 52 of these were fitted with electric pumps; 976 were fitted with hand pumps; and 1 was a solar-powered borehole. 500,000 Ghanaians reportedly benefited from the project.