Ga South committed to effective waste management - Thompson

The Ga South Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Jerry Akwei Thompson, has given the assurance that the assembly is seriously considering the concerns of the people in the effective management of solid waste to enhance living standards.

In line with this, the MCE disclosed that  measures were being taken to reclaim lands at old landfill sites at Mallam, Oblogo and Sabah, all in the Ga South municipal area to ensure that communities in those places lived in an environment devoid of any health hazards.

Addressing a public forum at Weija on the new scientifically engineered landfill site for solid waste at the Sonitra Pit at Bulemin, Mr Thompson said the Accra Metropolitcan Assembly (AMA) which was leading the exercise  had learnt its lesson from previous landfill sites and was introducing the new technology to drastically reduce to the barest minimum the health hazards associated with landfill sites.

Mr Thompson’s speech, which was read on his behalf by the Presiding Member of the Ga South Municipal Assembly, Mr Dan Sackey, said  the concerns of residents near landfill sites had been factored into the adoption of the new technology.

He explained that the Bulemin Project, which had a recycling component was an avenue to generate jobs for the teeming unemployed youth in the area through the recycling and reuse of the garbage for agricultural and industrial purposes.

 In addition, the MCE for Ga South said,  the pits had been lined with thick plastic materials to prevent the liquid waste emanating from the rubbish from contaminating water bodies in the area. He also said the sites would be fumigated periodically to reduce stench.

Mr Thompson said the AMA was generating about 2,800 metric tonnes of waste  which when recycled, could provide hundreds of jobs for the youth in Accra and beyond.

He said the health hazards associated with the previous landfill sites were considered and the new technology had addressed all of them so there would be no cause for alarm when the landfill site became operational in a few months to stop the spread of cholera which had hit Accra and its environs.

He added that the AMA was still taking measures to reclaim the lands at its old landfill sites at Mallam, Oblogo and Sabah to ensure that the residents lived in sound environmental conditions free from stench from liquid waste that contaminated water bodies in the area.

Mr Thompson explained that the scientifically  engineered landfill sites  would  leave only a few metric tonnes of refuse as most of the refuse would be recycled.

 For his part, the Accra Metropolitan Co-ordinating Director, Mr Sam Ayeh-Dartey, said the AMA was constructing a road to the site to ensure smooth disposal of refuse at the landfill site without littering the streets of the communities along the site.

He said that was the second scientifically engineered landfill site in the country after the one in Tema.

He further explained that the AMA was switching from the old landfill sites to new scientifically engineered ones to reduce the incidence of cholera and other related diseases associated with dumping of rubbish in the open as it used to be. 

He said the difference between the old method of dumping of refuse at landfill sites and the new method was that the refuse was periodically covered with layers of gravel to reduce the smell so as to make residents who lived 10 metres from the site comfortable.

He urged residents to embrace the project by forming a joint management committee with the Ga South Assembly so that the concerns of the residents would be considered in operating the facility.