Dealing with filth: KMA needs €6m to construct landfill cell — Chief Executive
The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) needs an amount of €6 million to construct a landfill cell to help in the management of tonnes of waste generated and deposited at the final disposal site, the Chief Executive, Richard Ofori-Agyeman Boadi, has said.
“We are engaging with the Ministry of Local Government on how best to have part of the estimated cost of constructing one of the cells in the medium term to help manage waste generated in Kumasi and other districts,” he stated during a media interaction in Kumasi yesterday.
Mr Boadi said that when the new cell — a single waste-holding unit within the larger landfill property — was constructed, it would enable and position the KMA to properly manage the tonnes of waste at the final disposal site for the next three years without any difficulties.
The cells are generally shaped as basins during excavation, with berms running along the sides to contain leachate and other liquids.
A landfill can contain multiple cells in order to rotate the filling of each of them.
Engagement
Mr Boadi was addressing the media on measures taken by the assembly to deal with challenges at its final disposal site at Oti and other sanitation-related issues within the metropolis.
The media engagement followed recent public concerns by some residents in Kumasi over uncollected waste in some areas.
The situation arose as trucks that went to the disposal site to offload refuse got stuck due to the rain.
As a result, the trucks could not return to the central business district (CBD) and other areas to collect the refuse, creating the impression that nothing was being done about the situation.
However, Mr Boadi stated: “Until the cell is constructed, we have to be compacting the waste at the final disposal site in a bid to deal with tonnes of waste generated within the greater Kumasi area and other nearby municipal and district assemblies (MDAs).
“I wish to sincerely apologise for what happened, as it is not that the KMA did not have the capacity by way of vehicles and fuel to cart the waste.
We have a challenge at the final disposal site,” he mentioned.
KCARP not working
He mentioned that the Kumasi Compost and Recycling Plant (KCARP), set up to receive and recycle municipal solid waste in Kumasi and its environs, with the capacity to treat 2,400 tonnes of waste per day on two shifts, was currently not working.
“It is not that they are not ready to work, but it is a result of the government’s indebtedness to them for the past four years.
They do not have the funds to do the things that will keep the facility running,” the KMA boss clarified.
He pledged to engage at the highest governmental level so that some funds could be paid to resume operations, stressing “by doing so, at least power supply to the plant that has been cut off can be restored”.
On short-term measures, Mr Boadi announced a ban on the disposal of waste at any roundabout within the CBD and median of roads, warning that doing so constituted a criminal activity.
He stated that an additional 1,000 litre dustbins would be deployed within the CBD and designated market areas and, therefore, urged traders and the public to deposit refuse in such dustbins to improve the sanitation.
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