Tema Metropolitan Assembly to restore sewerage system
The Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) is taking steps to fix the overage Central Sewerage System through a public-private partnership.
The Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Felix Mensah Nii Anang-La, who disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Tema yesterday, said nothing would be left to chance to fix the constant spillage once and for all to bring relief to the people.
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He said he was aware of the nuisance caused by the damaged sewer system and assured the people of the metropolis that it would all be over very soon.
The problem
The Tema Central Sewerage System was constructed over 60 years ago when the population of Tema was less than 15,000.
Today the population of the metropolis is over 400,000, with an estimated 150,000 others entering and exiting the city daily to transact business.
Coming with the deteriorating sewage system are environmental and health threats, but past administrations have been unable to tackle the problem.
In 2014, for instance, the TMA announced a new master plan to restore the old and damaged sewer systems in the metropolis.
As part of the project, the assembly said it would undertake construction works to install equipment for the treatment plant and pumping station and repair burst pipes and pavements for the easy flow of effluent from the main sources.
However, that project could not see the light of the day.
Dealing with the problem
Mr Anang-La expressed regret that the metropolis was saddled with the incidence of frequent sewage spillages as a result of overage sewerage lines and weak infrastructure.
He said the pressure on the existing infrastructure had multiplied, hence the spillages that the assembly had to deal with currently.
The MCE, however, indicated that as part of the Tema Restoration Agenda, the assembly had constituted a standby team at its Waste Management Department to deal promptly with complaints about spillages on the sewerage lines.
He added that most blockages on the sewerage lines were due to the poor usage of the system by residents, to the extent that insoluble materials such as sponges, sanitary pads, clothes and cutlery are mostly found in the sewerage lines when maintenance works were carried out to fix spillages.
Mr Anang-La, therefore, called on all users of the facility to conform to the proper use of the system and not to put the already weak infrastructure under pressure.
He assured the general public that soon the entire sewerage system in Tema would be overhauled with bigger pipes and decentralised treatment plants that would be able to cater for the ever increasing population of the city and bring permanent relief to residents.