AMA calls on Ghana@50 Secretariat to settle its debt

Accra, June 26, GNA-The Accra Metropolitan Assembly has appealed to the Ghana @ 50 Secretariat to pay the Assembly a total of 900,000 new Ghana cedis for work done for the Secretariat during the Ghana @ 50 celebrations.

The Assembly has also called for the release of its special allocation of the Heavily Indebted Poor Country's fund to enable it to carry out its duties.

Speaking during a working visit by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Environment, Science and Technology on Thursday, Mr. Stanley Adjiri Blankson, Metropolitan Chief Executive of the AMA said waste collection contractors were not doing their work because the AMA was not paying them.

He noted that the AMA was in the process of rezoning the metropolis in order to make waste collection contractors more responsible and dedicated to their various zones.

"As a result of the rezoning, the 18 contractors that the Assembly had has been reduced to 13. They shall work for five months after which only the competent ones will have their contracts renewed", he emphasized.

He said although the AMA had 13 units to take care of, about 60 percent of its internally generated revenue was invested in the Waste Management Unit alone due to the huge filth created in the Metropolis. He said so far, all the 39 identifiable heaps in the metropolis had been cleared by the waste management company, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, and that henceforth it would be responsible for clearing all minor heaps of filth in the city.

Mr. Blankson noted that the current waste dumping site at Oblogo was almost full and would be closed down in August.

"As a matter of urgency, the AMA is to develop another quarry site at Sabah near Weija as the new site. We also appeal to the Government to finance the Kwabenya Landfill project which has been on the drawing board for years", he added.

Mr. Kwame Owusu Frimpong, Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee appealed to the AMA to do everything within its jurisdiction to improve upon the sanitary condition of the Metropolis in order to avoid the outbreak of disease.