Gov’t initiates project to improve water and sanitation in Ashanti
By Kwabia Owusu-Mensah, GNA
Accra, July 18, GNA – Government will soon outdoor a project to improve water and sanitation in the Ashanti Region.
The 85 million dollars project, will involve the construction of household toilet facilities, replace obsolete pipelines as well as the installation of other sanitation facilities in Kumasi and other big towns in the Region.
Madam Cecilia Abenaa Dapaah, Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, announced these at a meeting to introduce contractors and consultants for the Oti Landfill Decommissioning and Re-Engineering Project to key stakeholders in Kumasi.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, chiefs from the communities near the Landfill site, Regional Coordinating Council, The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, the Asokwa Municipal Assembly, city engineers, as well as assembly members from the area.
The decommissioning and re-engineering of the Oti Landfill site is part of a project by the central government to use modern technology to redevelop the refuse site to reduce the excessive bad odour and stench which posed serious health hazards for the people in the communities in the area.
Members from the communities including Oti, Dompoase, Atonsu-Dominase, Kuwait and others, have for years embarked on a series of demonstrations to draw government attention to the bad state of the landfill and dangers posed to the health of the people in the area.
The re-engineering project, which would be carried out by Zoomlion, will employ the use of the closure turf technology to regenerate vegetation and reduce gas emission into the environment.
Madam Cecilia Dapaah, commended the chiefs and people of the area for their understanding and support for the project, and said it would help improve the general environmental situation in Kumasi and other adjoining communities.
She also praised the KMA for working hard to improve the general sanitation in the Kumasi metropolis and said the new environmental sanitation project would further help to improve the image of Kumasi and restore it to its past glory as the garden city of West Africa.
Mr Simon Osei Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister, said the government was committed to improving the lives of the people and called for total support to achieve that goal.
Madam Patricia Appiagyei, Deputy Minister of Environment, Science and Innovation, appealed to the people to remain calm since the government was working to address all the development challenges in the area.
Madam Appiagyei, who is also the Member of Parliament for Asokwa, said work was on course to improve the deplorable road network in the area.
