ZOOMLION LAUNCHES NEW WASTE MANAGEMENT CONCEPT (PAGE 21)

Story: Samuel Duodu, Sunyani

THE Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, has called on assembly members, traditional authorities and religious leaders to lead the crusade against indiscriminate dumping of refuse and littering in their various communities.
He said the poor sanitary habits exhibited by some people could be corrected if assembly members, chiefs and religious leaders, who lived closer to the people in their vicinities, would take it upon themselves to educate people to desist from such negative acts.
Mr Baffour-Awuah made the call at the launch of a new waste management concept by Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a waste management company.
The new concept is aimed at actively involving assembly members in waste collection in their electoral areas, especially the door-to-door collection, in the spirit of public-private participation in waste management.
Under the project, Zoomlion would provide the necessary logistics for assembly members to educate the public on good sanitation.
To this end, Zoomlion would provide trucks equipped with public address systems to be used for the waste collection at the cost of GH¢19,500.
Mr Baffour-Awuah attributed the sharp increase in malaria cases and other preventable diseases such as typhoid, diarrhoea, dysentery and cholera to the insanitary conditions created in the cities, towns and villages.
Those diseases, he stated, could easily be prevented if people desisted from indiscriminate dumping of refuse in gutters and drains that tended to be the breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other insects.
The regional minister appealed to the various municipal and district assemblies to rigidly enforce their sanitation bye-laws to help protect the environment, stressing that the public must also assist by keeping their surrounding clean at all times.
Mr Baffour-Awuah expressed the hope that the new concept, which was a further collaboration between Zoomlion and the district assemblies, would enhance waste collection and management in the country.
The Special Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zoomlion, Nana Yaw Sarkodie, stated that the new concept was not the first time that Zoomlion was working in collaboration with the assemblies to ensure national development, especially in the areas of health and sanitation.
He expressed the hope that the project would go a long way to improve environmental sanitation in the country.    
The Brong Ahafo Regional Co-ordinator of Zoomlion, Mr Kwame Gariba, said the trucks to be used by the assembly members for the waste collection and public education, would be given to each municipal and district assembly on hire purchase basis.
He said payment would be spread over a period of five years, while Zoomlion would be responsible for the servicing, repairs and maintenance cost of the truck.
Mr Gariba added that under the project, Zoomlion would also provide GH¢200 for the public education component, while assembly members would only be responsible for the payment of the driver’s salary and fuelling of the trucks.
According to him, under the project, residents were expected to pay a token to support its sustainability.