Do not patronise ‘borla taxis’ - TMA

Residents of Tema have been advised against patronising the services of ‘borla taxis’ as a measure to curb the increasing rate of indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the Metropolis.

‘Borla taxis’ are tricycles used to collect garbage from households at a fee.

The services of these ‘borla taxis’ are highly patronised in Tema since most of the private waste management companies contracted to cart refuse from houses delay unduly.

Engineer Solomon Noi, Head, Waste Management Department of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA), who gave the advice, said most of these ‘borla taxi’ operators end up dumping the refuse on the streets, in drainages and behind houses.

Eng. Noi explained that cardboards are put on the sides of the bucket of the tricycles to take more load which invariably makes it too heavy to be carried to landfills so they dump anywhere.

He gave the advice on Thursday during the launch of the “2017 Face of Tema”, a beauty pageant aimed at increasing awareness on sanitation issues in the Tema Metropolis.

This year’s pageant being organised by the TMA in conjunction with Daylight Events is on the theme, “Environmental Management and Sanitation”.

He said activities of these operators would lead to an outbreak of an epidemic in the Metropolis including cholera, diarrhoea, and typhoid if the practice was not stopped.

Eng. Noi also called for attitudinal change among residents as according to him, most of the sanitation problems facing Tema emanated from poor appreciation of hygiene and cleanliness.

He stated for instance that some residents had expanded their homes to the extent that sewer manholes where located in their rooms, while traders also dump refuse into sewer lines as most of the metal covers of the manholes had been stolen exposing them to debris when it rained.

He gave the assurance that the TMA, through a Public Private Partnership programme would upgrade the Community Three waste treatment plant to process the Metropolis’ liquid waste to produce water for irrigation, compost for farming and biogas.

The Engineer added that the Kpone landfill site would be modernised to process waste into energy, noting however that investors will chicken out if they found out that they could not recoup their investment due to the attitudes of residents.

Ogyedom Ama Tetewaa I, Tema Fantehene, launching the pageant urged religious bodies especially churches to educate their congregants to observe good sanitation practices.

Miss Felicity Naa Amerley Sampa, the maiden winner of Face of Tema, called on institutions, Assembly Members and individuals in the Metropolis to financially support the winner to embark on intensive advocacy on sanitation in the area adding that due to lack of support she had challenges implementing her project.