The Manya Krobo District Assembly is to organize clean-up exercises every six weeks on Fridays to help keep the environment clean, Mr Isaac Agbo-Tetteh, the District Chief Executive, has said.
Addressing the first meeting of the third session of the assembly at Odumase Krobo on Monday, Mr Agbo-Tetteh said the measure was to ensure a clean and healthy environment.
He said the administration would provide logistic support to the cleanest community after periodic assessment in order to encourage them to sustain the programme.
Mr Agbo-Tetteh said the assembly was negotiating with landlords to secure a large parcel of land to be used as a disposal site for both solid and liquid waste.
He expressed worry that the district was not included in the second phase of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency project due to its inability to meet the criteria set by the donors.
Mr Agbo-Tetteh said the officers who managed the District Water and Sanitation Team (DWST) office had not been paid their allowances for the past 30 months and that the assembly did not pay its counterpart fund either.
"Above all, we are indebted to the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA). We have lost greatly."
He said he wanted to reverse the trend by resourcing the DWST to supervise wells and also to liaise with the Agency if it could be given other water and sanitation projects as and when the district secured additional funding.
On toilets, he said their mode of privatization appeared flawed and their management left much to be desired.
Mr Agbo-Tetteh said in spite of attempts by some members of the community to personally handle the toilets, the assembly had to streamline the policy to provide the best of services for the people since their health was more important than the funds that would accrue to the business.
Mr Agbo-Tetteh said donor funded projects were progressing steadily but the challenge facing them was how to raise counterpart funds.
"We have managed to complete three out of the five projects sponsored by the European Union (EU)," he said.
These are a culvert at Abanse, a three-unit classroom at Evangelical Presbyterian (EP) School at Kpong as well as 16-seat place of convenience at Kpong Lolonya.
Mr Agbo-Tetteh said the district had been allocated a grant of GHC 52,740 under the Community-Based Rural Development Project and that the assembly had decided to put up staff quarters at Aklomuase to accommodate some members of staff.
He said he was not happy about how the administration was facing challenges from landlords who were thwarting their efforts to bring development projects into the district.
The site earmarked for the construction of the four-unit staff bungalow was under litigation while another family had threatened legal action against the assembly for the use of a portion of the Agormanya market.