Zoomlion clears 30 refuse dump sites in Tamale, Sagnarigu
About 30 refuse dumping sites in the Tamale Metropolis and Sagnarigu Municipal Assembly have been cleared to help improve sanitation and prevent floods in the area.
Some of the refuse sites were over seven years without being evacuated, which posed a danger to the residents.
The exercise formed part of an ongoing nationwide refuse evacuation exercise on dumping sites under the Government's Clean Ghana Agenda aimed at resolving the sanitation challenges in the country.
It was being undertaken by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), in collaboration with Tamale Metropolitan and Sagnarigu Municipal assemblies.
Zoomlion Ghana Limited provided experts and vehicle trucks to evacuate the refuse.
Sanitation challenge
Speaking to the media after the exercise on Monday, the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) of Tamale, Sule Salifu commended the ministry and Zoomlion Ghana Limited for undertaking the exercise to improve the sanitation situation in the region.
He urged authorities and the residents to own the dumping sites and support the assembly to implement the pay-as-you-dump policy to ensure regular evacuation of the refuse.
"If the evacuation is not done, we are likely to confront diseases that will affect residents, which may lead to deaths.
“This huge sum of money could have been channelled to addressing other pressing issues," he noted.
Mr Salifu indicated that the assembly would provide containers at vantage points for residents to dump their refuse for a fee.
"The pay-as-you-dump policy is not about paying huge money but it is as little as 50 pesewas to GH¢5, depending on the size of the refuse that would be dumped,” he explained.
Advise
For his part, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Sagnarigu, Mohammed Yakubu Ahmed, advised the residents to change their attitude towards the indiscriminate dumping of refuse to help keep the environment clean.
Some of the residents who spoke to the Daily Graphic thanked the ministry and the assemblies for clearing the mountains of refuse that had become an albatross on them.
Writer's email:
mohammed.fugu@graphic.com.gh