Zoomlion deploys street sweepers in parts of Accra

Waste management company, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, has deployed 10 road sweepers in Accra to assist in keeping the streets clean for an initial contract term of two years.

The street sweepers were launched on February 20, 2019 in Accra and were put into operation on April 2, 2019.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Operations Director of Zoomlion, Mr Ernest Kusi, said while initially five of the trucks were deployed in Accra, with two dedicated to the airport, one in Takoradi, one in Tamale and the last one in Kumasi, a major decision had been taken to deploy all the 10 trucks in Accra alone for now, to champion the President’s dream of making Accra the cleanest city in Africa.

Responding to whether the 10 trucks were the full complement of sweepers for the country, he said: “Each region is going to have one sweeper in the near future and with the new regions that have been created, it means that we have to increase the number of sweepers.”

Mr Kusi said the deployment of the vehicles follows a contract the company had signed with the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), which mandated it to clean the streets of the country, saying “we will continue as far as we have a contract with the government.”

Mixed sweeping

Explaining the mode of operation of the sweepers, he said: “According to the planning that we have in our country there is going to be mixed sweeping.

“When you talk of mixed sweeping you are looking at manual together with mechanical.

So, we will look at places that the sweepers alone can work and there are places where the two will have to combine before you achieve efficiency in cleaning.

“It will depend on the type of street and it will also depend on the quantity of sand that you will find on a particular street.

“We are expecting that at least with the streets within the high-income community, once a week cleansing will be okay.

And in the low community the trucks will have to go there often because of the amount of sand and also the littering on those particular streets – so you are looking at, at least three times weekly, while the middle-income streets will be between the high income and the low communities.”

Mr Kusi said further that in places where there are markets and in central business districts, as well as government office areas, cleaning will be done on a daily basis.

The time of sweeping will also depend on the nature of traffic during the day, Mr Kusi explained.

“We are always going to work against the traffic, so if the traffic is on the left side we will work at the right side, but we are looking at between 9a.m. to 4p.m.,” he said.

Sweepers

Mr Kusi said, the mechanical sweepers performed the dual roles of taking the sand and washing the streets simultaneously to increase the lifespan of the roads.

“So, you are looking at mechanical and vacuuming.

This one is more powerful than the ones that come with only washer or only mechanical,” he explained.

On what would be done to the sand that is vacuumed from the streets, Mr Kusi said: “We are in touch with contractors so that we will be able to move the sand and they will use it to build houses.”

Areas to be cleaned

To help the company effectively clean the streets of Accra, Zoomlion has prepared an initial list of various streets in 18 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies.

The MMDAs include Ablekuma North, Okaikoi South, Nungua-Krowor, Ablekuma Central, Ablekuma South, Ablekuma West, Osu Klottey, Ashiedu Keteke and Ayawaso East and North.

The rest are Okaikoi North, Ayawaso Central, Ayawaso West, Ga East, Ga West, Ga Central, Adentan, La Nkwantanan and Ga West.