Govt to support SSGL to replicate waste treatment plants - Osafo-Maafo

Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo has announced government’s intentions to support Sewerage Systems Ghana Limited (SSGL), a subsidiary of Jospong Group of Companies, to enable the company expand and replicate its waste treatment plants across the country.

According to him, government was impressed with SSGL’s operations and how it was handling both faecal matter and waste water at its two treatment plants at Korle Gonno in Accra.

“Government will provide you with funds to expand and replicate your faecal and waste water treatment plants across the whole of the country. Without money you can’t sustain this kind of project,” he stated.

Mr Osafo-Maafo made this disclosure during a familiarisation tour of SSGL’s two waste treatment facilities-Lavender Hill Faecal Waste Treatment Plant and Mudor Waste Water Treatment Plant in Accra on Thursday 13 August 2020.

Mr Osafo-Maafo noted that government support for this kind of project must be continuous to help sustain such companies, indicating that Tema in particular was in dire need of such waste treatment facilities.

The senior minister commended the Executive Chairman of Jospong Group of Companies, Dr Joseph Siaw Agyapong, who was present during the former’s visit, for his visionary leadership.

The Managing Director (MD) of SSGL, Haidar Said took Mr Osafo-Maafo on a tour of the two treatment plants. At the Lavender Hill faecal treatment plant, the minister familiarised himself with facilities including the Treatment Workshop, Regulating Tank, Anoxic Generating Room among others.

The senior minister was also briefed on how facilities such as the Sludge Thickener and the Drying bed work at the the Mudor Waste Water treatment plant.

Mr Said revealed that the European Union (EU) has granted his company £200,000 to generate liquid fertiliser.

The General Manager (GM) of SSGL, Ing Mrs Florence Cobbold told journalists that her outfit was managing both the Lavender Faecal and the Mudor Waste Water Treatment Plants.

According to her, the faecal plant receives faecal matter from sceptic tanks of homes of residents in Accra.

This, she said, goes through a number of processes including screening. By-products generate gas and charcoal at the experimental stage.

On the Mudor waste water treatment plant, she explained that it receives sewerage from some homes in Accra, adding that: “This also goes through a number of processes,”

Ing Mrs Cobbold stressed that through her outfit’s efforts, the foul smell that emanates from the Lavender Hill area has reduced drastically.

Additionally, she indicated that SSGL was also managing the Kotoku Faecal Treatment Plant which receives 200 trucks with faecal matter averagely on daily basis.

She, however, revealed that her company was constructing faecal plants in Kumasi, Takoradi and Tamale and both faecal and waste water treatment facilities in Tema.