Waste management is serious challenge to STMA – Chief Executive

Mr Kobina Pra Annan, Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Chief Executive, at the weekend said waste management in the Metropolis had become a serious challenge to the Assembly.

“This is because the contingency monies from the Central Government meant for subsidizing waste management in the Metropolis had been diverted into managing the havoc caused by the recent rains in some parts of the country,” Mr Annan said.

Mr Annan was reacting to the sanitation situation in the Metropolis at a press briefing at Sekondi following media report of poor sanitation at the Central Business District of Takoradi.

He said the Assembly would soon introduce waste management service tax in the Metropolis to enable it to collect enough revenue to pay waste management companies contracted by the Assembly.

Mr Annan said any household that refused to pay the tax would be arrested and prosecuted, adding that waste management was capital intensive and, therefore, the Assembly would use every avenue available to source funds to manage waste in the Metropolis.

He said the Assembly spent between GH¢ 90,000 and GH¢100,000 monthly on waste management in the Metropolis noting that although it had contracted waste management companies such as ABC, Tidy-UP, Zoomlion and Rusaben to collect domestic waste, waste management had been poorly managed in the Metropolis due to the inability of the Assembly to pre-finance the companies due to inadequate financial resources.

Mr Annan said that the Assembly owed Rusaben more than Gh¢ 1,500,000 for work executed for the Assembly.      He also blamed residents around the CBD for deliberately dumping domestic waste into a stationary compactor container at the Market Circle at dawn instead of disposing them into “pay as you dump” containers provided by the Assembly at the vantage points in the Metropolis.

Mr Annan said that because of the bad attitude of the residents, the stationary compactor facility becomes full within a short time thereby leading to spillage of waste into the market and its surroundings.

Source: GNA