Mr Victor Kottey (2nd right) presenting the waste management report in Accra. With him are Mr Desmond Appiah (right) and Mr Solomon Noi (2nd left), Director, Waste Management. Picture: INNOCENT K.OWUSU.

AMA to sanction non-performing waste mgt service providers

Juliet Akyaa Safo Mar - 19 - 2019 , 10:09 3 minutes read

Waste management service providers that do not perform satisfactorily over a period of time will be sanctioned, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has warned.

According to the AMA, such non-performing companies would initially be served with warning letters and their contracts terminated subsequently if they failed to live up to expectation.

According to the Deputy Head of Waste Management at the AMA, Mr Victor Kottey, eight of the waste management service providers operating within the AMA had not performed to expectation.

Per the AMA’s performance indicators, service providers are supposed to get more than 85 per cent to reach acceptable performance.

The key indicators for accessing their performance include the registration of households, supply of bins at a fee, frequency of service offered, maintenance of designated sanitary sites, provision of personal protective equipment for the health and safety of collection crew and the submission of monthly reports.

Event

Presenting its 2018 third quarter performance evaluation report on solid waste collection in Accra yesterday, Mr Kottey said the non-performance of those companies had contributed to the indiscriminate disposal of solid waste in the metropolis.

According to him, the assembly had outsourced 95 per cent of waste collection to private companies, among which it conducted assessment twice every year.

“We signed a five-year contract (2016-2021) with the companies to ensure that waste is managed adequately within their respective jurisdictions,” he said.

Only Jekora ventures with 80.6 per cent was adjudged as having performed satisfactorily.

The seven under-performing service providers are: Zoomlion Domestic Services in Ayawaso Central, 61.8 per cent; Zoomlion Domestic in Ablekuma Central, 61.5 per cent; Metropolitan Waste and Allied Services in Ablekuma Central, 43 per cent, and J. Stanley Owusu and Company Limited in Okaikwei South Sub-metro, 40.7 per cent.

The rest are Metropolitan Waste and Allied Services in Ablekuma South, 36.0 per cent; Tropical Waste in the Ashiedu Keteke Zone One, 28.3 per cent, and Meskworld Company in Ashiedu Keteke Zone Two, 22.1 per cent.

Recommendation

Mr Kottey advised all service providers to be innovative in dealing with the complexity of waste, increase their collaboration with the Metro Health Department of the AMA and also ensure the health and safety of its collection crew by providing hand gloves and face mask.

“All service providers must separate collection of recyclables, increase service coverage before the end of March 2019, submit detailed monthly reports and conduct daily monitoring,” he added.

Mr Kottey, however, observed that the inability of some waste companies to live up to expectation was because of the delay and failure by some customers to pay providers for services rendered them.

He, therefore, urged such customers to always endeavour to make prompt payments to the waste service roviders.

Update on bye-laws

The City Sustainability Advisor to the Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr Desmond Appiah, “We have updated our bye-laws.

The charges given out to those who dump waste have been changed; instead of fixed charges, offenders would be made to pay a minimum of 100 penalty units, of which one unit is GH¢40,” he added.