Mr Simon Osei Mensah, the Ashanti Regional Minister, has asked the Management of Zoomlion Ghana Limited to expedite action on the construction of its Integrated Recycling and Compost Plant (IRECOP) in the Ashanti Region.
This, he said, would help manage the overwhelming waste being generated in the Region.
Kumasi, the second largest city in Ghana, generates a minimum of 1,500 tonnes of waste without any recycling plant to sustainably manage it on daily basis.
The only landfill, which receives municipal solid waste in the Kumasi Metropolis is the Oti Landfill and is currently full, posing health threat to residents, as leachate from the waste is polluting water bodies in the Region.
The disposal of liquid waste directly into water bodies has also become a norm in the Region as cesspit trucks lined up to dislodge faecal matter into water bodies, thus, posing a threat to public health.
The Regional Minister made the call when a joint parliamentary select committee on Sanitation, Water Resources, Environment, Science and Technology, Local government, Works and Housing undertook a familiarisation tour of the Region.
The Committee inspected the Integrated Recycling and Compost plant and lauded Zoomlion for establishing such a magnificent waste recovery and recycling complex in the region, to treat both solid and liquid waste.
The committee, however, surprised that government had not signed any off-taker agreement to start using the facility, including the one commissioned in Accra in April this year.
The committee expressed worry over the bureaucratic nature of doing things in Ghana.
The Minister said Zoomlion was currently also constructing a 10.5 kilometre asphalt road to enable easy access to the recycling facility, which is nearing completion.
The leader of the delegation, Nana Amoako, Member of Parliament for Upper Denkyira East, indicated that in view of what happened to Kpone landfill site in Accra recently, there was the need to take pragmatic action, to provide sustainable solutions to waste management challenges in the country.
He said disaster awaits the country considering the recent flames at the Kpone landfill site and the devastating condition of the Oti Landfill in the Ashanti Region if nothing is done about it.
The Quality Assurance Manager of the Kumasi Integrated Recycling and Compost Plant (KCARP), Dr Glen Kwabena Gyimah in an interview explained that the facility would provide a multi-purpose function of treating both solid and liquid waste.
He said the facility was made up of various recycling systems, which will process a total of 2,500 tonnes of waste per day.