The government is preparing to mobilise equipment, contractors and other national resources to clear the massive accumulation of waste at the Jamestown Waste Transfer Station in Accra.
Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mahama Ayariga, said the intervention would bring together several ministries, state institutions, private contractors, mining companies, major businesses and development partners to address the longstanding sanitation challenge.
According to him, the immediate priority is to determine the exact volume of waste accumulated at the site and develop a coordinated plan for its evacuation and appropriate disposal.
Mr Ayariga made the remarks during an assessment of the waste transfer station, where he said the scale of the problem could not be fully appreciated from the road.
“This exercise is to come and have a proper appraisal of the situation on the ground. We see this waste from afar; we drive by and really have no sense of the enormity of the challenge,” he said.
He noted that the height of the waste piles provided a clear indication of the scale of accumulation, describing the situation as a challenge that had persisted for decades.
Mr Ayariga said the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs would work with the Ministries of Roads and Highways, Defence, Finance, and Environment, Science and Technology to mobilise the resources required for the exercise.
He said the government has its own equipment that could be deployed, including at least 100 trucks, 16 excavators, dozers, loaders and other machinery.
In addition, the government intends to invite contractors operating across the Greater Accra, Eastern and Central regions to make available equipment that is not actively deployed on construction sites or can be used during weekends.
“We will invite all the contractors in this country that are operating within the radius of Greater Accra, Eastern and Central whose equipment are close by,” he said.
The minister said the approach is intended to mobilise Ghana’s collective capacity rather than rely solely on government funding.
He explained that contractors would be encouraged to contribute directly to the evacuation by committing to remove specified volumes of waste using their own equipment.
“We don’t want their money. We just want them to come and we’ll show them and say, ‘Okay, this is the heap. You say you’ll do 1,000; we’re watching you do the 1,000 for us,’” he said.
He added that the initiative could also be extended to major mining and industrial companies as part of their corporate social responsibility programmes.
Such companies, he said, could either deploy their own equipment during periods when the machinery was not being used or engage contractors to evacuate an agreed quantity of waste on their behalf.
As part of preparations for the exercise, the minister said technical teams had begun using drones to assess the volume of waste at the site.
The initiative, supported by Zoomlion, is expected to provide an accurate estimate of the accumulated waste and help authorities determine the equipment, number of trips and timeframe required for the evacuation.
Mr Ayariga explained that knowing the volume would allow the government to establish realistic targets for participating contractors.
“If you have 100 cubic metres of material and your trucks can convey five cubic metres, you can divide 100 by five, and that gives an indication of how many trucks or trips you have to undertake to be able to dislodge it,” he explained.
He said contractors could subsequently be assigned specific quantities based on their capacity, allowing the exercise to be monitored and measured.
The government, according to the minister, has identified a landfill site where the waste is expected to be transported.
However, Mr Ayariga stressed that clearing the waste alone would not provide a lasting solution if the area is allowed to return to its current state.
He said the government therefore intended to redevelop the site after the evacuation, including the development of affordable and higher-density housing for residents.
Mr Ayariga said the objective is not to evict residents but to reorganise the community into safer and more habitable living conditions.
“I’m not a believer in moving them out of this place. What I think the state should do is to redevelop it into high-rise, livable spaces,” he said.
He argued that the availability of vertical housing could significantly reduce the amount of land required to accommodate the population while creating space for improved infrastructure and sanitation.
The minister acknowledged that the redevelopment would require changes to some existing economic activities, including cattle rearing, which he said would no longer be suitable for the area.
He added that the government is also considering ways of creating economic opportunities within the redeveloped community so residents could benefit from jobs and other livelihood opportunities.
Mr Ayariga said the government is awaiting the return of President John Dramani Mahama from his international engagements before finalising the programme.
He said he would meet the President to firm up the plan, after which the President is expected to lead the official exercise to clear and redevelop the area.
“The Minister for Roads is ready. The Minister of Finance is ready. The Defence Ministry has already put together a team led by Colonel Asya. We at Local Government are equally ready,” he said.
The minister said the planned intervention formed part of a broader effort to confront major sanitation challenges at their source rather than repeatedly manage their consequences.
Mr Ayariga linked the waste problem to broader public health concerns, arguing that preventing the accumulation of waste would reduce the burden on the healthcare system.
Greater Accra, he noted, is home to millions of people, making effective waste management critical to public health and the quality of life of residents.
“You’ll be spending billions of Ghana cedis in managing health in the country, when you can just spend a fraction of it to take out the real cause of the problem,” he said.
He said his approach is to address what he described as the “root cause” of sanitation problems rather than implement measures that merely create the appearance of progress.
For him, successfully clearing the Jamestown site would demonstrate that Ghana had the technical, human and material resources needed to confront major sanitation challenges.
“I want us as a people, as Ghanaians, to show that we have the capacity to surmount what appears to be insurmountable,” he said.
Mr Ayariga further challenged citizens to complement government efforts by taking responsibility for waste management around their homes, shops, offices and other properties.
He said clearing the Jamestown waste mountain would serve as an example of what could be achieved through coordinated national action.
“My real task is to demonstrate that we as Ghanaians can clear this, and we will clear it with your support,” he said.
By 1960news.com
