Deputy Sanitation and Water Resources Minister, Michael Gyato
Deputy Sanitation and Water Resources Minister, Michael Yaw Gyato, has revealed the ministry’s plans to relocate one of the country’s oldest landfill sites, Kpone, before the end of the second quarter of the year.
According to him, government has secured lands in other parts of the country to make the relocation successful by May.
Though he acknowledged the danger the landfill site poses to residents, Mr Gyato who was speaking in an interview with Citi News, urged them to be patient as government completes the relocation process.
He said the process is long because the government wants to put all the necessary measures in place to ensure the new site doesn’t pose the same threats the existing one does.
He said, “we as a Ministry think that the hazard and nuisance are too much and for that matter, we need to cap it and see how best we can do a zero-landfill site. They should exercise patience for us. We have acquired some lands and we are even going to another place to do an environmental impact assessment.”
“We want to do proper engineering and at the same time see how best we can do the waste separation. Whatever we do to the landfill site will be very minimal now. We are in March so in May we will be relocating [it],” he added.
The deputy minister’s comment comes on the back of a protest by the youth in the community on Monday, 9th March, to demand the relocation of the landfill site.
They threatened to sue the government and ministry for taking away their right to a safe and comfortable environment.
Convenor of the demonstration, Nii Noi Tetteh told the media that “Our way of life has completely been altered. They have been depositing rubbish here for over 50 years. We say enough is enough. They need to shut it down and come and properly decommission the place so that our environment can be healthy for us. Look at the roads here. All kinds of industries are here yet they do not do anything about the roads. We deserve better than this.”
The Kpone landfill site continues to receive waste from between 150 to 250 trucks daily despite exceeding its available capacity.
There are fears that the condition of the landfill site will have a negative impact on Accra’s sanitation.
With the growing concern of the hazardous states of landfill sites across the country, the Environmental Service Providers Association (ESPA) has urged government to find alternative ways to handle waste in the country.
