The Minister of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mr Ahmed Ibrahim, has announced plans to formalise waste transfer loading stations and integrate tricycle waste collectors into Ghana’s long-term sanitation framework.
He said the initiative would provide a more comprehensive and sustainable approach to waste management across the country.
Mr Ibrahim made this known during a working visit to the Zoomlion Integrated Recycling and Compost Plant (IRECOP) in Accra on Monday, which is currently serving as a transfer station at Jamestown.
He disclosed that five out of the six designated waste transfer stations in the Greater Accra Region were now operating at full capacity, following government intervention to clear the large volumes of refuse generated after the recent National Sanitation Day exercise.
The facilities at Abokobi, Teshie, Achimota, Ashaiman and Jamestown, he said, were reopened on the directive of President John Dramani Mahama to speed up waste evacuation and avert a potential public health crisis.
Mr Ibrahim explained that as part of emergency measures, routine administrative procedures, including waste weighing charges at transfer station gates, had been temporarily suspended to ensure the swift movement of refuse from communities.
Despite the progress, he noted that the Malam transfer station remained non-operational due to the absence of an access road.
He disclosed that National Security, in collaboration with the 48 Engineer Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces, had been tasked to complete the road to enable the facility to begin operations and ease pressure on the existing transfer stations.
Mr Ibrahim indicated that the Jamestown transfer station currently received waste from about 800 of the estimated 4,000 tricycle waste collectors operating daily in the Greater Accra Region.
To prevent congestion at the facility, particularly given its proximity to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, he said government had introduced a 24-hour operational system.
Under the arrangement, tricycle operators discharge waste during the day, while articulated trucks transport compacted refuse overnight to engineered landfill and recycling facilities in the Eastern Region.
The minister defended the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, stating that effective waste management required significant investment in infrastructure, equipment, logistics and technical expertise.
He commended the Jospong Group of Companies for responding promptly to government’s request by providing heavy equipment and operational support on credit, citing that the intervention helped avert what could have escalated into a major public health emergency.
Moreover, Mr Ibrahim announced that the ministry was developing a sustainable business model to regularise tricycle waste collectors and integrate them into the formal waste management system.
He said government would engage the Council of State Sub-committee on Sanitation, seek Cabinet approval for the policy, and work with the Ministry of Finance to secure funding for engineered landfill sites and modern waste processing infrastructure.
BY CLIFF EKUFUL
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