Capital cost contribution (CCC) to water projects by rural communities

Capital Cost Contribution (CCC) by beneficiary communities to Water Supply Projects has been a key feature of the National Community Water and Sanitation Programme (NCWSP) in Ghana since the Programme’s inception in 1994. Using methodologies such as interactive discussions and review of CCC Records, the Paper examined the implementation challenges of the CCC Policy to small towns using the Small Towns’ Component of the EU-funded Rural Water and Sanitation Project in the Northern Region as (2003 – 2007) as a case study. It was found that, basing the community’s (small town) share of the capital cost on the estimates provided by the Feasibility Studies creates problems of delays in arriving at the right figure as well as non-affordability in some cases. It also does not provide a uniform basis for arriving at the CCC for small towns since the factors, which influence the Investment Costs of the Water Supply Projects are not the same for all communities. It was further noted that the Policy as it stands now falls short of explicitly prescribing the use to which these communities’ contributions should be put.