AMA considers increasing waste tariff
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) is considering increasing the fees it charges for waste collection following a request from waste management.
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The Accra metropolis is currently divided into three residential class areas. In the first class residential areas, each household pays GH¢30 as fees for waste collection; GH¢20 is charged in the second and GH¢10 in the third.
A typical first class residential area include the suburbs of Cantonments, Airport, and East Legon, while examples of a second class area are North-Kaneshie, Dansoman and Sakaman. Areas such as Agbogbloshie, Chorkor and Nima constitute third class residential areas.
According to the Head of Waste Management at the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Mr. Samuel K. Kpodo, should there be any upward adjustment in tariffs, it would be between 60 and 80 per cent.
He said any increase would be based on recent increases in fuel prices and high vehicle maintenance cost.
Cleaning exercise
Following the directive by the Vice President, Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur, that the city should be clerared of rubbish within 10 days, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly embarked on a rigorous evacuation of refuse dump sites. In all, 15 dump sites of ‘mountainous heaps of refuse’ were identified and cleared. Besides clearing refuse dump sites, a number of gutters and storm drains in the city were cleaned.
Mr Kpodo acknowlwdged that markets in the city were also a contributory factor to the problem of choked drains.
He said at the Agbobloshie Market, for instance, traders who were selling close to gutters had to be moved a distance away to enable the drains to be cleaned.
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Commission
A sanitation Standards and Implementation Committee has been set up by the AMA to ensure that waste clearing exercise was sustained. The committee, he said, also had the responsibility of educating the public on proper environmental and hygienic practices.