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On Thursday, October 26, 2023, the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly officially started “Holistic Reinforcement for Sustainable Development,” a project sponsored by the European Union (HORESD).
Under the Local Authorities Partnership for Sustainable Cities in 2021, the European Union provides a substantial funding of 2.5 million euros for the implementation of HORESD.
KMA representatives will shortly launch a sanitation initiative called “Keep Kumasi Clean; Let’s Recycle” as part of this effort.
By using solid trash as a resource to create jobs in the city, the initiative aims to maintain cleanliness in the urban area.
During the project’s inception, KMA authorities commissioned eight collection trucks and acquired 1000 waste plastic containers as part of the logistics needed to carry out the program.
The Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources’ program manager, Mrs. Charlotte Akwaah-Adjei, emphasized that major players in the nation must assist MMDAs in developing policies that will improve waste management.
According to her, effective waste management has the potential to create jobs and bring in large sums of money for different MMDAs.
The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, according to her, only produces 120,000 tons of waste each day, and she believes that, with proper management, it can provide the city with revenue and job opportunities.
At the event, the Kumasi City Mayor Hon Sam Pyne said KMA will commence deployment of the equipment on November 1st, 2023 to selected suburbs in Kumasi to initiate a pilot program for waste source separation.
He Mayor underscored the initiative as a significant milestone towards achieving a cleaner and a more sustainable city.
“Our goal is to restore Kumasi to its former glory as the Garden City”, he said.
“Undoubtedly, this project is a new experience for KMA and other MMDAs. Nevertheless, I implore all of us to collaborate and ensure the success of this project. With our collective commitment and unwavering determination, we will overcome any challenge that may arise”, he added.
International delegation who were present at the launch were Mr. Victor Constantino (City of Priar), H.E Paqui Momparier (President of MANRA), Mr. Massimo Mina (Head of EU Delegation).
Mrs. Charlotte Akwaah-Adjei (Program Manager at the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources) in her address at the event thanked KMA for starting the initiative.
She said from the example set by KMA, other cities will also learn, adopt the business modules to improve sanitation.
According to her, incorporating business components into sanitation is a positive move.
“The necessary enabling environment now exists, especially in technology and innovation, and therefore we must make the desired effort to improve cleanliness in our City,” Mrs. Charlotte sternly warned.
In his speech, Mr. Massimo Mina, the head of the EU delegation in Ghana, expressed his satisfaction with KMA and Kumasi city’s efforts to support a change in the way the city manages trash.
He did, however, provide a sobering statistic: only 10% of Ghana’s daily production of 12,700 tons of solid trash is collected and disposed of.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
