Zoomlion Ghana and its Hungarian partners will soon commence the construction of the first-ever wastewater treatment plant for Sekondi-Takoradi.
The Western Regional Manager of Zoomlion, Alhaji Abdulai Abdela speaking to Citi News on the sidelines of a public durbar on the project at Assekae, said the 1,000 cubic metre capacity wastewater treatment plant is being cited on a plot of land acquired at Assekai in the Effia-Kwesimintsim Municipality.
He said the project expected to reduce landfill wastewater treatment and eliminate the dumping of liquid waste in Sekondi-Takoradi and other neighbouring MMDA’s in the Western Region.
“We just want the community to understand the kind of project that we are bringing to them. We are coming to build two major projects on about 200 acres of land we have acquired here. These are a Compost Plant and a Wastewater Treatment Plant. The first step of the project is the road construction from the Assakae town to the project site.”
“Once the road construction is completed, then we move to the first phase that is the Waste Water Treatment Plant construction. The road construction has already started with engineers currently on-site and hopefully by two weeks time actual road construction will fully commence. The 1,000 cubic daily capacity wastewater treatment plant can take about 200 trucks of liquid waste per day which the entire Takoradi alone cannot supply that. This means that we are going to rely on other nearby districts to meet the needed raw materials for the plant. It is our belief that with the commitment that our Hungarian partners are putting into this project, it is my hope that by end of 2021, much of the facility would be completed,” he said.
Alhaji Abdela added that the over €50 million project will create over 300 jobs for locals as well as byproducts including biogas and compost.
“The integrated waste recycling and compost plant is the second phase of the project that would on a daily basis recycle about 200 tons of solid waste. This would require more waste from nearby districts to get adequate raw materials for its operation. On byproducts, the wastewater treatment plant is likely to produce biogas for electricity generation while the integrated waste recycling plant would produce compost as cheap fertilizer for farmers around to use. The wastewater treatment plant alone is likely to employ about 300 factory workers.”
The Chief Executive for Effia-Kwesimintsim Municipality, Kojo Acquah, commended Zoomlion for citing the project in his municipality.
To him, the project will help address waste management issues the assembly is confronted with.
He however urged residents to corporate with the construction processes.
“I’m very glad for this community engagement for this project. I have personally been to Kumasi to see the similar project Zoomlion has built there. As an assembly, it is going to be seriously beneficial to addressing our sanitation issues as its recycling capacity is so huge. Especially during the rainy season, it becomes very difficult to even transport our waste to the Sofokrom landfill site. Again, with its location in the EKMA, it means we are also going to benefit in taxes and property rates from the factory as wells as employment for Assakae and Whindo residents. We have briefed the community on the project to prevent any impediments to the project and urged them to remove stores that obstruct the road to the site.”
The Chiefs and people of Assakae who turned up in numbers to appreciate the project and also asked questions for clarifications pledged their support to the project.
