A/R: NADMO Warns Residents To Stop Burning Tyres Around Kumasi Airport

The Ashanti Regional National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) has issued a strong warning to residents around the airport enclave whose activities affect safe flight operations.

According to the regional NADMO Director, Kwabena Senkyere, some of these residents burn car tyres with the aim of retrieving the steel belt, and in the process, emit thick dark smoke into the atmosphere.

This act he said affects the visibility of pilots in the air.

Speaking to Citi News, Kwabena Senkyere said residents who do not adhere to this warning would be arrested and prosecuted.

“When the flight is coming down, the smoke of the burning tyres becomes a problem to the visibility of the pilot; if they become adamant, we are going to put the military and the police out there, 24hours and make sure anyone we find around there we will arrest,” he said.

In 2016, the Head of the Petroleum Department of the EPA, Mr Kojo Agbenor-Efunam, stated the agency was set to outlaw the burning of car tyres

He said the burning of tyres was not only illegal but also emitted poisonous gases into the atmosphere because of the constituents of the tyre.

“Burning of tyres will be outlawed once we pass this regulation. Nobody in the country would be allowed to burn tyre for any reason,”

“If there is the need for you to burn a tyre, then you have to come to the EPA for a permit to be able to do that, and you have to justify why the EPA should give you a permit,” He said.

Mr Agbenor-Efunam said the EPA was working at passing the law by the end of the year, conduct public sensitisation in 2017 and eventually start implementation in 2018.

Burning of waste tyre

Regulation 46 (1) of the soon-to-be-passed law, Waste (Classification, Control and Management) Regulations, 2016, says “A person shall not burn a waste tyre within the jurisdiction of this country unless the Agency has authorised the person.

Sub-section (2) also states that “A person who burns or causes the burning of a waste tyre commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction” to a fine, a term of imprisonment or to both.

Mr Agbenor-Efunam said the law when passed would, among other purposes, prescribe the requirements for the establishment of take-back systems and the disposal of waste. He also said the current bye-laws of assemblies prohibited open burning.

–citinewsroom