Parliament worried over Kwabenya Land Fill project

Page 16, Nov 5, 2009
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah & Daniel Nkrumah

THE PARLIAMENTARY Select Committee on Local Government has expressed its disquiet over the delay in the completion of the Kwabenya Land Fill Project and urged the government to take a quick decision on the fate of the project.
The site, which was identified in 1991 had sparked intense agitation as locals and artisans engaged in stone cracking at the site vehemently opposed the project.
During a visit to the site, the Chairman of the Committee Mr Dominic Azumah, expressed concern over the delay and also expressed worry that people continued to encroach upon the land.
Presently, some private developers have encroached upon the land and when the team visited the place, some of them had their workers on site putting up structures.
“If we cannot continue with the project, we must take a final decision; if we can, we must start it now,” Mr Azumah stressed.
The Project Co-ordinator, Mr Daniel Aidoo, said the project formed part of the Urban Environment and Sanitation Project II to be funded by the World Bank and the Government of Ghana.
He said originally the project was expected to cover a land size of 465 acres but the size was reduced to 364 acres after agitation from some local people.
He explained that the project had primarily delayed because of the agitation of the local people, who had now agreed to accept compensation so that they can relocate to enable the project commence.
Mr Aidoo said about 700 hundred stone crackers and 89 individuals and families were to be compensated and indicated that they had been formally written to with the compensation offer and they in turn had written in response.
He said the framework for the Environmental Impact Assessment had already been done and only needed to be upgraded.
He explained that somewhere in 2006, there were plans to commence payment of compensation but the World Bank requested for a Resettlement Action Plan before the payment of any compensation.
He said the site was an engineered land fill site that would serve the Greater Accra Region for close to between 20-25 years to be constructed at the cost of about $12 million dollars.
The team also visited a composting site being constructed by Zoomlion Ghana Limited in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.
The facility, upon completion will cover an 80-acre land and will help in the effective management of waste.
The project, which is located at Medie in the Ga West and Akuapem South Districts has been strategically sited to serve some districts in the Greater Accra, Eastern and Central regions. The first phase of the project is to be completed in June 2010.
During a tour of the site by Members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Local Government and Rural Development and some pressmen, the Head of the Composting and Recycling Unit, Mr George Rockson, said the first phase would focus on the sorting out of solid waste and the treatment of solid waste to produce compost.
He said the second phase would cover the treatment of liquid waste adding that faecal matter would also be aerobically treated to produce compost from the solid waste, and liquid fertiliser and biogas and fertiliser from the liquid waste.