AMA suspends dumping at Achimota site
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) will, from Thursday, January 10, 2013, suspend the dumping of garbage at the Achimota dump site.
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The assembly has,
consequently, begun covering the dump site with laterite as part of
measures to reduce the nauseating stench which has engulfed the area and
surrounding communities in recent times.
The move, according to
the Head of the Waste Management Department of the AMA, Mr Anderson
Blay, came on the heels of deepening public outcry over the dumping of
Accra's solid waste in the sub-urban community.
As part of
measures to control the stench, the department has also intensified its
fumigation of the site to bring down the pungent stench prior to the
closure.
When the Daily Graphic visited the dump site, which is
close to the Achimota Lorry Terminal, yesterday, 10 trucks had lined up
to fill the dump which has become a receptacle for most of Accra's
garbage since June last year.
The diversion of some refuse
trucks from the Achimota dump site to Abokobi, according to the
attendant at the site, Mr E. A. Tetteh, had significantly reduced the
number of trucks that tipped their garbage at the place, which is
completely surrounded by residential and commercial properties.
Currently,
all the 17 solid waste contractors, including Zoomlion Ghana Limited,
Meskworld; Stanley Owusu and Asadu Royal Waste, have all been dumping
the garbage they collect from across the length and breadth of the
national capital at Achimota.
Mr Tetteh said the AMA was working
hard to reduce the stench, since the dump site was located in the heart
of a thriving urban area.
Health experts indicate that the
prolonged inhalation of the stench from the site could cause nausea,
headache, drowsiness, fatigue and respiratory problems to residents.
Consequently,
the residents have threatened to go on a demonstration to compel the
AMA to stop waste trucks from dumpjng waste at the place, which the
assembly appears to have obliged.
Mr Blay intimated that the
assembly had turned to Abokobi in the Ga East municipality and the Accra
Compost and Recycling Plant at Adzen Kotoku, which has the capacity to
recycle about 600 tonnes of garbage daily to manage its solid waste.
The
Abokobi-dump site had also in the past generated a lot of public
agitation with constant smoke spewing from the dump into homes but Mr
Blay gave an assurance that measures were being taken to control the
smoke.
The Accra metropolis is estimated to generate 2,200
tonnes of garbage daily and an engineered landfill is badly needed to
manage this waste.
An official of the AMA indicated that the
only trump card left for the assembly was the Sonitra pit, being claimed
by two contractors, Meskworld and Zoomlion Ghana Limited, currently
battling the case in court.
Story by Naa Lamiley Bentil