The Savannah Regional Minister, Mr Saeed Muhazu Jibril has renewed government’s commitment to continue to partner with Zoomlion in order to transform the waste sector in Ghana.
He said the strides Ghana has made in the past recent years in solid and liquid waste management has been so phenomenal and it is broadly because of the ever spirited efforts of the Jospong Group of Companies and Zoomlion Ghana Limited.
He commended Zoomlion for the establishment of the Integrated Recycling and Compost Plant (IRECOP) which is 50 percent complete at Damongo and appealed to the company to as a matter of urgency consider partnering the Regional Coordinating Council to establish mini liquid waste plants in the seven Municipal and District Capitals to help manage their liquid waste too.
The Regional Minister said this in a speech read for him by the Regional Director of Environmental Health Department Mr. Adam Wahab at the Savannah Regional segment of the Zoomlion and Graphic Communications Group waste awareness creation dialogue series.
The collaboration is dubbed “Make Ghana Clean Campaign”
Mr Jegede said government spends a whopping amount of GH¢420 million for environmental waste sanitation in a year and 90 million as a result of opened defecation which money he said could be used to develop the nation if Ghanaians acted responsibly.
He bemoaned the ill culture of opened defecation of the residents of the region in the capital Damongo and warned that a task force will soon deal ruthlessly with residents who perpetuate the habit.
Mr. Wahab therefore called for an intensified and deliberate public awareness creation, sustained law enforcement and for the citizens of Ghana to live by example in ensuring that their surroundings were cleaned at all times.
The Zoomlion and Graphic collaboration has already launched the campaign in 13 regions so far and will move the trail to the Upper West Region after the Savannah Region clean up exercise on Thursday.
In a presentation, a Senior Communications Officer of Zoomlion Ghana Limited Mr. Mohammed Mahama Adams disclosed that his outfit has partnered with several private and public institutions in its bit to create waste management and environmental sanitation awareness across the nation and gave the assurance that the company will continue with the agenda to ensure that many Ghanaians develop a new positive attitude towards waste disposal.
He hinted that wherever the IRECOP plant is being built in the sixteen regions there will an accompanying liquid waste treatment plant to also receive and treat liquid with the aim of producing electricity to augment the national power generation.
He said Zoomlion is resilient with its 360-degree-waste management system agenda and will soon make Ghana a better place to live in.
Mr. Alhassan Zakariah who is Sub-Chief Editor at the Graphic Group advised Ghanaians to properly manage their waste in order not to contract diseases which will result in agricultural and general economic boost in their area of business.
The programme, which was attended by key actors in the industry including chieftaincy and the security, was climaxed with a massive cleanup campaign in the Damongo Municipality.
