Gov’t introduces 10p ‘borla’ tax to keep Ghana clean

The government of Ghana has instituted a sanitation and pollution levy (SPL) to accrue revenue to keep the environment clean.

Caretaker Finance Minister Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu made the announcement on Friday, 12 March 2021 when he delivered the 2021 budget.

He said “notwithstanding the progress that we have made in the areas of sanitation and pollution, there is still a lot more to be done”.

The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs listed them as follows:

i. Improve urban air quality and combat air pollution;

ii. Support the re-engineering of landfill sites at Kpone and Oti;

iii. Support fumigation of public spaces, schools, health centres and markets;

iv. Revamp/reconstruct poorly managed landfill facilities;

v. Construct more sustainable state-of-the-art waste treatment plants both solid and liquid in selected locations across the country;

vi. Construct waste recycling and compost plants across the country;

vii. Construct more sanitation facilities to accelerate the elimination of open defaecation.

viii. Construct final treatment and disposal sites for solid and liquid waste;

ix. Provide dedicated support for the annual maintenance and management of major landfill sites and other waste treatment plants and facilities across the country; and

x. Construct medical waste treatment facilities to prevent generation of infectious diseases especially under the Coronavirus Treatment Programme.

He said: “Mr Speaker, these are all very critical investments that have to be made for the benefit and dignity of all Ghanaians. These will ensure sustainable sanitation management, improve the quality of life and reduce the number of deaths and diseases from poor sanitation”.

“To provide the requisite resources to address these challenges and fund these activities, the government is proposing a Sanitation and Pollution Levy (SPL) of 10 pesewas on the price per litre of petrol/diesel under the Energy Sector Levies Act (ESLA)”.