Govt urged to reduce taxes on imported sanitation equipment
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Tidy Up Ghana Limited, Mr Steven Kofi Ampofo, has charged the government to reduce taxes on importation of environmental sanitation equipment.
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That, he said, would help waste management companies to thrive and also fulfil their mandate, which is to keep the environment clean at all times.
“The modern waste management machines are very expensive,” he said, adding for example that “we bought one of our machines for €23,000 and you will pay about five of that to operate, therefore, the government must support us through exemptions so that we can import a number of the machines,” Mr Ampofo told the Daily Graphic in an interview on the sidelines of the opening of the waste management company last Wednesday in Accra.
Opening
A waste management company, Tidy Up Ghana Limited, inaugurated the US$600,000 modern facility to meet the needs of environmental sanitation services through a waste compacting technology.
The facility was made possible through a GH¢200,000 financial support from Premium Bank’s ‘Help Station’ initiative to enable the company to recycle waste.
According to Mr Ampofo, the facility does recycle through placing of four stationary solid waste compactors to developed pavements at site. These compactors are motorised and will be placed on the ground to receive waste.
“By a press of a button, volumes of solid waste dumped into the loading bucket is emptied into the feed opening and compacted into the bigger chamber for repository until it becomes full,” he said.
He observed that the company was set to provide environmental sanitation services through a waste compacting technology with a mission to undertake the clearance of waste in all urban settlement in the country.
Financial support
The Managing Director of Premium Bank Ghana Limited, Mr Kwasi Tumi, indicated that the Premium Bank was positioned to provide businesses with unparalleled support service aimed at ensuring their growth, resilience and competiveness.
“Our paths crossed with Tidy Up Ghana Limited, the managers of this Waste Transfer Station, less than 10 months ago when none of the banks or financial institutions were willing to take a chance with them,” he said.
He said it was understandable because they could not provide financial statements in the conventional manner accustomed to by banks and financial institutions and did not have collateral as well.
“However, we saw a potential in the business and leveraging on our experience and expertise, offered what in our opinion was the support needed through our business delivery channel, The Help Station, and the end result is what has brought us here today.
Others see waste, we see raw materials; they see Tidy Up Limited as a business unit, we see a potential conglomerate; and as an entity contributing its quota to solving the sanitation problem we all complain about,” he added.
Laudable initiative
For his part, a former Minister for Private Sector Development and Presidents Special Initiative, Mr Kwamena Bartels, lauded Tidy Up Ghana Limited for opening such a facility of recycling waste through modern technology.
“Tidy Up Ghana Limited is presently making waves providing cutting-edge solutions to waste management. Its state-of-the-art technology from Germany is providing an innovative way to manage waste disposal at Weija-Gbawe enclave and its surrounding communities. This is a real solution to one of the many problems we face as a society,” he was speaking on behalf of the Minister of Business Development, Mr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal.