The Minister of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mahama Ayariga, has commended personnel from the 48 Engineer Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) for the progress made on the evacuation of waste from the Agbogbloshie area to the Adepa Engineered Landfill site at Nsawam in the Eastern Region.
Subsequently, he encouraged them to work harder to complete the waste evacuation exercise ahead of schedule.
Mr Ayariga made the call during a visit to the site of the exercise yesterday, urging all stakeholders to support the government to turn the area into an eco-tourism site.
Context
On September 18 this year, President John Mahama commissioned the waste evacuation exercise at Agbogbloshie, meant to clear tonnes of waste built up along the Odaw River.
The waste evacuation is being carried out by the 37 Engineering Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) and carted to the Adepa Engineered Landfill site at Nsawam in the Eastern Region.
When completed within three months, the reclaimed site would be used for the construction of the Agbogbloshie Urban Renewal Project.
Visit
When Mr Ayariga went on a working visit to the site yesterday, more than 100 machines, including those acquired for the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP), were being used to evacuate the waste.
It was observed that the evacuation team had made significant progress with the work.
The team had cleared almost two of the mountains of waste that had accumulated at the Korle
Bu side of the Odaw River, with one major pile to go.
On the Agbogbloshie side of the Odaw River, two more mountains of waste remained to be collected.
Mr Ayariga said he was very impressed with the work that had been done by the GAF team in terms of the waste evacuation.
He added that when the waste evacuation was completed, the next phase of the work would be to dredge the heavily polluted Odaw River and turn that area into an urban restoration and eco-tourism site.
COMAC, Sentuo Oil Refinery support
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer and Industry Coordinator of the Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies (COMAC), Dr Riverson Oppong, donated fuel coupons and cash amounting to GH¢191,000 to the Ministry of Local Government to support the waste evacuation exercise.
Mr Ayariga added that Sentuo Oil Refinery Limited had also donated GH¢13,500 litres of diesel to support the exercise.
He appealed to other private sector entities to support the exercise because more work remained to be done.
"We have been funded so far by the Ministry of Finance, but there is more work to do; so the private sector should bring their support," he said.
Determination
The Team Lead for the Special Evacuation Operations, Col. Emmanuel Asia, explained that the machines –127 tipper trucks and a mixture of excavators, front loaders, bulldozers and rollers– are from DRIP.
"We have moved from haulage during the day to night haulage, which starts at 7 p.m. to about 5 a.m.," he said.
Col. Asia assured the minister that everything would be done to finish the work on schedule and hand over the site to the government.
