Government has awarded the Kpong-Tema and Oti-Kumasi landfill sites to Jospong Group’s mother company, Zoomlion Ghana Limited.
This was announced by President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the sod cutting ceremony of the Tema Sewer Network and Waste Water Treatment Plant on Sunday, October 25, 2020, in Tema.
The two facilities according to the president is supposed to cater for the increasing solid waste generated within the two largest cities in the country.
“I’m happy to announce that government has also awarded a contract to Jospong Group of Companies for the recommencing and reengineering of the Kpong-Tema and Oti-Kumasi landfill sites to receive the growing solid waste generated within the Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi metropolitan areas respectively”, he said.
President Akufo-Addo says the two projects are aimed “to restore the sanctity of the environment of the main metropolises of our country.”
He further expressed his gratitude to the Jospong Group of Companies and particularly, Zoomlion, for imparting the lives of many through their entrepreneurial initiatives, especially in the waste management sector.
“I must express my gratitude to Jospong Group of Companies and his partners for their entrepreneurial initiative which are impacting lives”, he stated.
He added “government remains committed to collaborating with the private sector to provide the needed infrastructure, in this case in the sanitation sector, and continue to manage solid waste.”
Cecilia Dapaa outlines Tema sewerage benefits
Addressing the durbar at the sod cutting ceremony which also included the construction of a Solid Waste Treatment Facility in Ashiaman, the sector Minister, Cecilia Abena Dapaa expressed her elation for the project that’s going to be implemented.
She said the harassment from the three Legislators of the three constituencies in Tema would cease, following the sod cutting ceremony and subsequent construction of the project.
She lauded the visionary leadership of President Akufo-Addo that “encouraged the private sector to partner government to have this project on board. This a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources on behalf of government and the Jospong Group of Companies and partners”, she noted.
Madam Abena Dapaa indicated the “Solid Waste Treatment Plant will help manage the daily generation of waste by Tema, Ashaiman and Adenta which generate 271, 177 and 80 tonnes of waste respectively.
“The Ministry is also constructing a world class ultramodern sewerage plant facility at Bankuman and a similar one at Ashiaman to address the liquid waste management challenges in these two areas”, she added.
The economic implications of poor sanitation to the poor and vulnerable, according to the Minister, is what propelled the President to take such measures to address the increasing waste menace in the country.
Sanitation Ministry achievements
Listing some achievements of the Ministry in the sanitation sector, Madam Dapaa indicated “household toilets increased from 14% in 2017 to 21% as at the end of 2019. This implies that 7% increment representing approximately 2.3 million people are enjoying good sanitation facilities.”
“We have also built 122,000 household toilets and I want to stress here that we will continue to build these toilets so that we can continue declaring open defection-free communities. Currently, 5,498 communities have been declared open defecation-free”, she averred.
She also said there has not been any cholera outbreak since the NPP took over in January 2017.
Zoomlion’s sanitation journey so far
The Jospong Group’s Executive Chairman, who is also CEO of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Joseph Siaw Agyepong said Ghana was ranked as the 7th dirtiest country by the World Health Organisation because fecal matter was being thrown into the Korle lagoon and the sea directly without any treatment.
He said this was due to the “three basins (Southern, Western and Eastern) Tema Sewerage System which was constructed and commissioned in 1963 and consequently rehabilitated in 1994 for the collection of human excreta, that ceased operation in 1998 and subsequently shut down.”
This motivated the construction of the treatment facility at Lavender Hill, in Accra to subdue the consequences of the filth.
Mr. Siaw Agyepong said some recommendations that were made from a 1998 study about the sewerage system could not be implemented, due to financial constraints.
But Zoomlion, according their Chief Executive Officer, in 2017 took up the project and initiated means of resolving it as a private sector, which has been realised through the encouragement of President Akufo-Addo.
“Our attention was drawn to this problem in the year 2017 and we decided to take it up as a key private sector player in this industry, being encouraged by the words of his excellency that ‘When we have a problem in this country, I want us to first try and find a Ghanaian solution‘, made on the 27th of February 2017 by President Akufo-Addo.
He said after discussions with the Sanitation Ministry in August 2018, Zoomlion has been able to come out with innovations and human capacity from their partners in advanced countries like Hungary, Austria and France to engage about 95% local workforce to establish the project.