The Environmental Services Providers Association ESPA and the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS) have called on the government to settle an outstanding debt of over GHS40 million owed operators of landfill sites.
According to the organizations, the government’s failure to pay the service providers has affected their effectiveness leading to the collapse of many waste management companies.
The Vice-Chairman of CONIWAS, Attah Arhin addressing the media today, March 11, 2020, lamented that the landfill sites risk closure if adequate steps are not taken to resolve the issue.
“The inability for government to pay may force these operators to withdraw their services due to their inability to service their equipment required for managing the landfill and to pay workers. The current infrastructure capacity is fast being exhausted. A visit to the Kpone landfill site yesterday shows the land is being used beyond its capacity. The risk in going beyond 20m in height is a possibility of a slide due to the unstable slope. In the wake of the impending raining season, most service providers are in great fear of the potential danger of the lack of suitable land for dumping, a situation which makes solid waste management even more difficult and increases the vulnerability of residents to sanitation-related diseases,” he said.
Mr. Arhin further stated that the president’s vision of making Accra the cleanest in Africa by the end of 2020 is not feasible.
“December 31, 2020, is around the corner and we have not put necessary measures in place to attain this because first of all, financing has been very low and secondly we don’t have the infrastructure to achieve this. And apart from these, we don’t have the law enforcement and people commit sanitation offences and they go free and if you look at the countries ahead of us, the situation is different. So I don’t think it will take eight or nine months to achieve that so it’s virtually impossible. We have seen some steps being taken but its quite late to mobilize the critical mass and resources to achieve this.”
Kpone: Group protests over state of landfill site, others
Some members of a group calling itself Kpone Organized Youth for Development yesterday, Monday, March 9, 2020, demonstrated over what they called the poor state of the Municipality.
The youth were unhappy about the wretched conditions of the Kpone Landfill site which they claim is taking a toll on their health.
The leadership of Kpone Organized Youth for Development said several appeals to authorities to address these concerns have fallen on deaf ears hence their protest.
We’ll relocate Kpone landfill site in May 2020 – Sanitation Ministry
The Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources has said it is working to relocate the Kpone landfill site over the health and environmental hazards it poses to the community.
The Ministry has given assurances that the site will be relocated in May 2020.
According to the Ministry, the government has secured lands in other parts of the country to make the relocation successful.
