Fifteen out of the 26 Metropolitan, Metropolitan and Districts Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Northern Region have taken delivery of brand new waste trucks and tricycle motor bikes from Zoomlion Ghana limited to boost their efforts in fighting sanitation in their respective areas. The remaining eleven district assemblies, according to Zoomlion will receive theirs in the coming months.
The trucks equipped with communal containers, according to Zoomlion, will replace old vehicles and containers for effective and efficient sanitation service delivery in the region.
The new equipment are expected to help beneficiary assemblies collect heaps of waste at vantage points and public toilets, an irritant to residents who accuse city authorities of reneging on their responsibilities.
The Tamale Metropolitan Chief Executive, Alhaji Abdul Hanan Abdul Rahman Gundaadow, who chaired the function, commended Zoomlion for their support and made a passionate appeal to residents to change their attitudes towards sanitation.
He urged residents to adopt positive attitudes so that the assembly will not spend much in addressing poor sanitation problems but rather channel it to other areas. The mayor entreated Zoomlion to be more responsive anytime the assembly calls on them to attend to pressing sanitation issues.
The Regional Environmental Health Officer, Rex Jakpa reminded residents of the dire consequence of living in a filthy environment, adding that it could cost nature a lot, making reference to last year’s floods and fire disaster in Accra.
Zoomlion’s Northern Regional Manager, Emmanuel Volsuuri said the presentation of the equipment is to re-engineer two important programs that have transformed waste and sanitation management in Ghana.
Mr Volsuuri said the supply of the equipment alone cannot ensure total sanitation, but rather, it must be accompanied by the enforcement of bylaws.
Mr Volsuuri explained that the electronic vehicles was in fulfillment of the company’s part of an agreement with the MMDAs.
Sustainable waste management he said rests on three main pillars-appropriate infrastructure, acceptance and utilization of infrastructure by sensitized public and enforceable sanitation bye-laws for recalcitrant citizens.
“As a country, we cannot continue to deliver waste management as social service. That path is not sustainable. People who generate waste must be made to pay for its collection and appropriate disposal,” Zoomlion manager stated.
The Yutong trucks manufactured in China came with Chinese engineers who will be stationed in Tamale to provide mechanical service and training to locals for two years.
The Deputy Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji A.B.A Fuseini could not understand why as a people we pride ourselves as religious and yet engage in activities that make the environment dirty.
He pointed out that Government and waste management companies cannot do it all if citizens fail to respect laws and urged the assemblies to enforce their sanitation bylaws.
Beneficiaries grateful
The district chief executives of two beneficiary districts, which took delivery of Zoomlion’s new trucks have commended Zoomlion for replacing their old vehicles to enable them collect heaps of refuse in their respective districts.
The Municipal Chief Executive for Savelugu, Alhassan Abdulai Red, in an interview with Zaa News, said the equipment will go a long way to address the waste management problems in the area.
According to Mr. Red, the fast growing nature of Savelugu comes along with it the generation of large quantities of waste and expressed the hope that the complaints of community members about delays in collecting the waste will be a thing of the past.
Another fastest growing district- Central Gonja, also has a lot of sanitation problems in its capital, Buipe. The Central Gonja District Chief Executive, Sheraz Ibn Yacin said the new equipment would facilitate the transportation of refuse to the district’s landfill side frequently.
