As part of the measures to curtail the flooding situation in the Greater Accra Region, the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources (MSWR), has handed over waste management equipment worth US$ 7.1 million to Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies.
The items included 205 small Power Tricycles, 50 Skips communal containers and 25 skips Loaders.
The donation which formed part of the Greater Accra Sustainable Sanitation and Livelihoods Improvement Project (GASSLIP), also saw the presentation of three mini buses worth US$ 225,000 to the schools of hygiene.
GASSLIP is a project launched in Accra 2018 by the MSWR to increase access to improve sustainable and climate resilience sanitation and hygiene with improved livelihoods for the low-income urban and Peri-urban residents within the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area(GAMA).
Speaking at the handing over ceremony held in Accra, the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Mrs Lydia Seyram Alhassan, said the GASSLIP project funded by US$48.85 million loan from African Development Bank (AfDB) and GHC 5.01 million from Government of Ghana had delivered 5,174 Household Toilets, 30 units of institutional Water, Sanitation and Hygiene facilities in basic and secondary schools.
She noted that, the project had also delivered 24 Motorised Tricycles, 30 Skips, 1,000 Waste Bins to beneficiary assemblies, laboratory and office equipment to the schools of hygiene in Accra, Ho and Tamale.
The Minister said the government through the ministry was committed to enhance the capacity of the assemblies to improve the delivery of sanitation services at the metropolitan and municipal levels.
“In the past week when the rains have intensified, we have all witnessed the effects of dumping of solid waste in our drains with the attendant flooding in most areas,” she said.
Addressing the schools, she said the buses would go a long way to improve upon their learning, adding that the bus would easily convey Teachers, students and items to their destinations, and give them ample time to learn.
The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Titus Glover, said the management of waste in Greater Accra had been a major challenge to the government due to the growing population, adding that, Accra’s population stood at 5.4 million people.
He urged the assemblies to maintain the equipment and make it available to serve the purpose for which they were given out.
BY CECILIA LAGBA YADA
