Kpone Landfill site reengineering ready December - Project engineer

The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Ms Cecilia Abena Dapaah, has paid a visit to the Kpone Landfill site which is being decommissioned and is undergoing reengineering for its conversion into a recreational facility.

On her visit to the 48-acre site yesterday, she inspected work being done by the contractor and was briefed on the remaining works to be undertaken at the site.

The minister was assured that the project, which began in June last year, would be completed in December this year.

Ms Dapaah was accompanied on the tour by the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Henry Quartey; the Kpone Katamanso Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Solomon Tetteh Appiah, and some members of staff of the ministry.

Briefing

An engineer with the consulting engineering firm on the project, EAP Consult, Dr Bertha Darteh, explained that the site had been passed through several processes, including moving waste material, cutting and levelling of terraces, grading works, compacting of access road, dressing and excavation of leachate, among other procedures.

She said the grounds would further be covered with a geosynthetic layer, after which more laterite would be added to the layer.

Through that process, she said, the engineering could guarantee that the site would support vegetation growth and would also give way for major works at the site to be completed, including the construction of the recreational structures.

Dr Darteh assured the minister that all major works at the site would be completed before the year ends.

Expedite work

Ms Dapaah commended the team for the work done and urged the contractor, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, to expedite work and ensure that all logistics needed were supplied fully, so that the project could be completed by the end of the year, as promised.

She said it was about time people appreciated the uses to which landfill sites could be put, considering that such sites occupied large spaces.

Ms Dapaah encouraged waste management firms in the private sector to venture into turning inoperative waste treatment sites into useful ventures to support the government in its sanitation management effort.

She also urged the MCE to visit the site regularly to make sure that the work was being done as expected and report his findings to the regional minister and her ministry.

Confidence

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Mr Joseph Siaw Agyepong, commended the government for the confidence reposed in the capability of a local contractor to decommission and reengineer the landfill site which had been in a terrible state and had posed a threat to residents.

He said the team would ensure that the project met international standards.
“With the confidence reposed in us, we also want to assure the minister that we are committed to completing this project by the end of this year,” he said.

Background

Until the project began in June last year, the landfill site gave off a strong and pungent smell which got worse during the rainy season, in addition to leachate that ran through the surrounding environment.

Some residents of Kpone, particularly the youth, had agitated for the site to be closed, as it had overflowed its retaining walls.

With the current project, there will be mechanisms to control odour and leachate, as well as a landfill gas collection system to collect and burn landfill gases to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.