The two parties signed an official memorandum of understanding (MoU) to formalise their strategic water sector cooperation at the City Hall of Aarhus, during the visit.

They also agreed that the cooperation made sense as Tema and Aarhus had a lot in common, thus the lessons from Aarhus’ effecient waste water management system would be of benefit the Tema metroplois.

“Our two cities have so much in common. We are about the same size and we both have large ports, so it makes a lot of sense to cooperate,” the mayor of Aarhus, Jacob Bundsgaard said.

Waste water problem

“We have a serious problem with waste water in particular”, said Mr Felix Mensah Nii Anang-La, Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) of Tema.

He added: “Our lakes and our lagoons are highly polluted due to lack of efficient wastewater treatment, but if you look at the rivers and the lakes and the lagoons in Aarhus, you don’t see any highly polluted water because there is an efficient waste water treatment in place.”

He said that was one of the areas where they were looking for ideas, hence the visit to Aarhus and future cooperation.

Mr Anang-La added that he was very grateful to sign the MOU as it would now be able to always consult Aarhus for advice and direction and expressed optimism that the cooperation would go a long way to help the city of Tema.

For his part, Mr Bundsgaard said he was happy to share his city’s competencies and know-how to improve the water supply and waste water management in Tema, adding that Aarhus also stood to gain from the cooperation.

“Tema is a city on the move. They have a big harbour. They are the gateway to Ghana and to the rest of Africa. We can use Tema as a stepping stone to cooperation with other countries in Africa and that also holds an interesting potential for private companies in Aarhus and the region.”

Members of the delegation also visited a modern sewerage water treatment plant and a water treatment plant in Aarhus.
The team also toured local Danish companies; namely Grundfos, AVK and Kamstrup, which produce world class technology for the water sector.