Government to tackle waste and sanitation problems

Accra, July 15, GNA- Mr Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) on Tuesday reiterated government's commitment towards the tackling of problems associated with sanitation and waste management.

"It is depressing to know that a country like Ghana, endowed with the human resource capital, in the 21st Century is grappling with a basic problem of sanitation and waste management," he said, and called for pragmatic measures to address the issue. Mr Ankrah was speaking to journalists when he and a team of environmental inspectors paid a working visit to waste management plants and landfills sites in Accra to familiarize themselves with their operations.

Places visited include the Accra Sewage Improvement Project, Korle Gonno Beach Liquid Waste Disposal Site (popularly called the 'Lavender Hill'), Mallam State Corporation Dumpsite as well as the proposed Kwabenya Landfill Site.

At the Lavendar Hill where vultures have besieged, an estimated 560 cubit metres of cesspit emptiers makes about 80 trips a day to discharge waste into the sea.

Mr Ankrah said the practice of discharging waste into the sea was crude and environmentally unsafe, stressing: "The untreated liquid waste could destroy aquatic life in the sea and pose health hazards to people in the area."

He visited the dysfunctional 22 million-pound Accra Sewage Improvement Project, at Korle Gonno, a suburb of Accra, which was completed in 2002.

Mr Enoch Laryea, Senior Technician for the project told the Deputy Minister that an estimated amount of GH¢700,000 was needed to repair the rusty parts of some components of the treatment plant to ensure that it starts full operations.

He explained that the plant could generate some economic benefits to the country if it starts full operations. "The sludge produced from the solid waste is used as manure and other useful things. Interestingly when we were fully operating, we used to service the Achimota Golf turf with some of the sludge formed," Mr Laryea said.

Mr Laryea said that if the project was well maintained, the methane gases that came from the waste could be trapped and sold as fuel in commercial quantities in order to generate income and employment opportunities.

Mr Samuel Kpodo, Officer in Charge of Solid Waste at the Waste Management Department of Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), said the Mallam State Corporation Dump Site was a temporal project meant to fill huge pits found at the Mallam area, which had served as breeding grounds for mosquitoes and dangerous reptiles. He said the AMA was engaged in pet and stench control activities at the site in order to curb any environmental and health risk the solid waste may pose to residents.

At the Mallam refuse site, located at Mallam a suburb of Accra, leachates could be seen flowing from the site to drains but Mr Kpodo insisted they did not pose any health risks as the water in the gutters from which they flowed diluted them.

Mr Naa Demedeme, Director for the Environmental and Sanitation Unit, MLGRD, said the proposed Kwabenya Dumpsite was under the Urban Environmental Sanitation Project funded by the World Bank, which was replicated in cities in Tamale, Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi and Tema. He said the Bank had committed initial amount of 2,000 pounds to ensure that the programme got started on time to reduce the burden of waste disposal and management in the country.

Mr Demedeme said the proposed project was a new concept designed to address the issue of leachates, stench and pest infestations commonly associated with dumpsites. He expressed the hope that encroachment of the project site could be effectively addressed through dialogue.