Keep Accra Clean

The intention of the current government is to bring improvement in the lives of the people. One way of doing so will be to help the people live a healthy life through good sanitation, that is achieved largely through the constant cleaning of towns and neighborhoods in Ghana. The Accra Metropolitan Assembly has vowed to take the lead in this exercise by turning Accra into the cleanest city in the whole of Africa.

In spite of the regular clearing of refuse by organizations such as Zoomlion to dumpsites, information trickling is that all the dumpsites are becoming full ,yes no go areas because they are getting full. What do we do next? Now that we are getting sophisticated in our activities we must pursue seriously the modern waste management system that makes it easy to process a large volume of garbage into manure and other useful items such as plastics. This method is currently very popular in developed nations.

Zoomlion, a popular waste management experts adopted this waste management system by setting up waste transfer stations at Achimota, Teshie and Kokomlemle in Accra. At the Achimota Station of the company, over 1,200 tons or 100 trucks of garbage are processed daily.

That is good enough to help the city up in sanitation drive. Since 2006 this company under its Chief Executive Officer Joseph Siaw Agyepong has consistently introduced modern technologies in waste management. Due to the huge tons of garbage generated in Accra the garbage processed by Zoomlion is not enough to deal with the garbage problem of the city of Accra.

Apart from Zoomlion there is the need for the government to get other waste management companies to open waste management companies to compliment the Zoomilon’s style of waste management. Apart from waste management, other things that contribute towards dirt in Accra and other cities in Ghana is wrong siting of tables kiosks and containers in pedestrian walkways and in all available space in the city shoulders and centers. Apart from contributing to make the cities dirty, these items obstruct easy passage of people and vehicles during times of emergencies like fire outbreaks and flooding during rainfalls. This is an area that can be dealt with by the private sector.

We recommend that the authorities should contact Zoomlion to handle this project. Zoomlion in cooperation with the AMA should be made to demarcate areas meant for kiosks and containers to allow for easy movements in Accra and other cities and towns. Apart from contributing to make our cities clean it would also help in beautifying the areas concerned.

Apart from this ZOOMLION could be made to plant flowers in the ministries and offices in the city centers. This way of dealing with our surroundings is the way to go as happen in many parts of the developed world.