By Erica Apeatua Addo
Tarkwa (W/R), July 4, GNA-Several dumping sites located in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality have been cleared by the Environmental Health Unit of the assembly to ensure public health.
The areas include, Nana Konnie, Railway quarters and Kwabedu dumping sites.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) during the exercise, Mr Alex Damtey, the Municipal Environmental Health Officer, said Mr Ebenezer Cobbinah, the new MCE, was concerned about the issues of waste management.
According to him, the MCE assured residents that he would ensure all heaped waste was evacuated within four months, so they started the exercise three weeks ago, and have now reached Nana Konnie dumping site.
He said, “our goal is to remove all waste from this location, send it to the final disposal site in Aboso, and then proceed to clear the other areas.
They chose weekends for the evacuation because the traffic situation in town was more manageable than during the weekdays, he noted
He recalled the assembly received ten skip containers from the Gold Fields Ghana Limited (GFGL) and his outfit had planned to station two containers at heavily populated areas like Nana Konnie, Nzema line and Kwabedu after the evacuation.
Mr Damtey added “as they work on that, they would engage the assembly’s refuse truck in addition to the one Zoomlion had promised to provide.
We believe that with the two trucks and two containers for each area, they would be able to manage waste in the municipality more effectively.”
He said, “We observed that at some dumping sites, the containers were not full, but waste was scattered around because children could not access the containers”.
He appealed to the public to send people who could use the containers properly to prevent littering in the surrounding areas.
The President has directed all Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assembly’s (MMDA’s) to enforce their sanitation by-laws.
“We will comply with the President’s directive. Although our officers are already out there going about their duties, we will double it up”.
Mr Damtey emphasized that they would continue to remind residents to dump waste in approved areas, not in gutters, uncompleted structures, or other unauthorized places.
GNA
Edited by Justina Paaga/Christian Akorlie