Municipal Assembly to construct landfill site

By Albert Futukpor, GNA
Savelugu (N/R), Mar 03, GNA - The Savelugu/Nanton Municipal Assembly has begun the processes to acquire a 20-acre land to construct a landfill site to among others process waste materials into other resources.

Mr Issaka Braimah Basintale, Coordinating Director of the Assembly who announced this during a media outreach on the Sanitation Challenge for Ghana (SC4Gh) initiative at Savelugu, said the move was to address sanitation challenges in the municipality.

The SC4Gh, an initiative of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in collaboration with IRC Ghana, is an inducement prize to stimulate competition among Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies.

It is also to encourage inclusive partnership for the design and implementation of liquid waste management strategies.

The media outreach, therefore, was to enable journalists to among others, interact with key local stakeholders on measures put in place to eliminate open defecation, reduce the sanitation gap between the rich and the poor, and increase access to basic and hygienic sanitation for all in the Assembly.

Mr Basintale said Zoomlion Ghana Limited had expressed interest to partner with them to construct the landfill site at Savelugu to improve sanitation for all at the municipality.

He said the Assembly was working to end open defecation in its communities by offering technical support to households to construct household latrines while, sensitising communities to embrace the community-led total sanitation (CLTS) concept to promote hygiene.

He said under the competition the Assembly had rehabilitated nine public toilets and constructed three institutional latrines while three communities attained open defecation free status.

He said they had also developed a by-law, which was in the process being gazetted to help enforce sanitation practices.

Mr Basintale said they were mobilising all resources to ensure successful implementation of the SC4Gh initiative in view of its immense benefits to the people.

Mr Kwame Asubonteng, Sanitation Lead at IRC Ghana commended the Assembly for its efforts to address sanitation challenges in the municipality calling on them to partner other innovative technologies to turn waste into resources.

GNA