Accra, Oct. 23, GNA – Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong, the Executive Chairman of Jospong Group of companies, says Zoomlion is committed to providing sustainable alternatives to waste management in Ghana.
He said such alternatives would contribute significantly to mitigate the threats of public health and environmental safety.
Dr Agyepong said this when President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo commissioned the phase-two of the Accra Compost and Recycling Plant, a subsidiary of the company, at Adjen-Kotoku in the Ga West Municipality.
He said the phase-two of the project was in response to the lack of facilities to receive and process waste in a sustainable manner.
He said the plant, officially established in July 2012, was a workable solution to the daunting waste management challenges confronting the country and a direct response to attaining Goal-Six of the Sustainable Development Goals, which demands a clean sanitation management to protect the ecosystem and promote a healthy environment.
Dr Agyepong said the plant was a three-phased composting and recycling facility, which added 800-tonne line to the existing 600-tonne facility.
“The current 600-tonne facility will be retrofitted and upgraded to 800-tonnes, bringing the total to a 2000-tonne project,” he said.
Dr Agyepong said it sought to provide the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) within the catchment areas with a viable and cost-effective alternative to dumpsites, and would help meet the growing demand for organic compost for soil enhancement mediums or fertilizers.
“It will provide sustainable material and energy recovery solutions to the high or increasing levels of recyclables in our municipal solid waste. The plant, which started with a workforce of 150, will be adding an additional 300,” he said.
Currently the Jospong Group employs over 6,000 core staff and 45,000 operatives totalling a workforce of 51,000.
Dr Agyepong expressed appreciation to the President for his visionary leadership and commitment to environmental sanitation and private sector development, saying the plant was one of the private sector-led initiatives in the environmental sector.
Alhaji Amidu Issahaku Chennai, the Deputy Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, said the Ministry recognised the important role Zoomlion played in the sanitation sub-sector to find answers to the ever-growing waste generated in Accra and other parts of the country.
He said the Ministry acknowledged that the solution to the waste management challenge lied in the availability of infrastructure to process the waste into other useful products requiring huge financial commitment, which government alone could not bear.
Alhaji Chennai said the role of the private sector was indispensable and it was against this background that the Ministry was collaborating private sector players with the capacity to raise the needed financial resources for infrastructural development required for sustainable waste management.
He commended Zoomlion for its phenomenal contribution in the sanitation sub-sector, saying government would continue to create the enabling environment for businesses to thrive.
Mr Augustine Collins Ntim, the Deputy Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, said the project had contributed significantly to keeping the MMDAs clean.
He said the Ministry would continue to support the sanitation ministry to provide technical support to the various MMDAs to ensure sustainable environmental cleanliness.
GNA