Project Maji, a non-for-profit foundation, focused on creating a sustainable access to safe drinking water in rural communities, opened its ninth site in Ghana this week.
The foundation has provided access to safe drinking water to over 15,000 Ghanaians and is looking forward to reach 1 million Ghanaians by year 2025.
The project which was established in 2015 by Sunil Lalvani, is quickly becoming a leader in the water, hygiene and sanitation sector. At a press conference held on Tuesday March 20, 2018, CEO of the foundation, Sunil Lalvani, said the $10,000 per project is the cheapest as compared to normal borehole project and above all efficient due to the technology adopted.
Project Maji’s technology allows them to set up a fully functioning, high capacity solar powered water kiosk for about the same cost as a hand pump. It also offers greater capacity and reliability and multiple dispensing taps to ensure the community does not have to form long queues while waiting for water.
The CEO said ‘’I originally set out to provide one community safe water through Binatone’s CSR department in 2014; however, we continued to grow and expand to more communities and in 2015, Project Maji was founded, Sunil Lalvani stated.
He added, ‘’our technology allows us to monitor all of our projects remotely directly from our cell phones. This is not only mitigates costs, but also ensures that each site remains functional well we leave.’’ Project Maji he announced ‘’is committed to spending a 100 percent of its proceeds to expand and maintain rural water installations.
’’ Project Maji solar powered water kiosk can pump and serve 5,000 liters of water per day with minimal maintenance and physical effort. It is designed and developed a first of its kind solar powered water kiosk pumping system.
It is fit-for-purpose design and is ideally suited for deployment in rural communities and is designed to work reliably with almost no maintenance in the harshest environments and minimal damage to the ecosystem. He said, ‘’by using a clean renewable energy source, the solar water kiosks have zero running cost and are not dependent on the electrical grid.
We use build-operate transfer and sustain model for all of our projects and integrate environmental, financial, and community sustainability into all aspects of what we do,’’ stated Nicole Malick, Development Director at Project Maji.
Project Maji is in partnership with World Vision and the Volta River Authority (VRA). A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), was signed between Project Maji and World Vision for six new projects sin some selected schools and health centres.
Project Maji is a non-for-profit foundation specialising in creating sustainable water solutions in sub-Saharan Africa. Registered in Ghana, Project Maji operates across sub-Saharan Africa.
Operating through private donations and partnerships, Project Maji uses 100 percent of its proceeds directly to support and establish rural water sites.