By Valentia Tetteh
The government plans to deploy military personnel to secure areas cleared of waste around the Korle Lagoon in Accra to prevent residents and waste operators from returning to dump refuse.
The Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mahama Ayariga, said the deployment would help protect cleared areas and ensure that the waste evacuation exercise delivers a lasting sanitation benefit.
“Because if we don’t put soldiers to supervise and secure the areas that have been cleared, people will go back and dump there again,” he said.
The planned exercise forms part of government’s efforts to address the longstanding accumulation of waste around the Korle Lagoon and improve sanitation in the capital.
Mr Ayariga said the exercise would require substantial logistical support, including trucks, personnel and heavy-duty equipment such as bulldozers, excavators and loaders.
He said the government was engaging contractors to provide some of the equipment and personnel needed for the operation, particularly at weekends.
“We are going to convene a meeting with the contractors and tell them that, please, we don’t work on Saturdays and Sundays, so let’s use those days to support the exercise,” he said.
Waste to be transported to Nsawam
Waste evacuated from the Korle Lagoon area is expected to be transported to the Adepa Waste Management Centre at Nsawam in the Eastern Region.
The facility has an estimated processing capacity of between 1,500 and 1,700 tonnes of waste per day and operates around the clock.
Mr Ayariga said the government was seeking to coordinate the activities of military personnel, contractors and waste-management operators to ensure that the exercise clears the accumulated waste while preventing renewed dumping.
He said he would brief President John Dramani Mahama on the arrangements, adding that the government was also exploring ways to carry out the exercise at little or no additional cost to the state.
The Minister stressed that securing the cleared areas would be critical to sustaining the gains made after the waste evacuation.
The exercise is part of broader government efforts to improve sanitation in Accra and tackle the environmental and public health concerns associated with the persistent accumulation of waste around the Korle Lagoon.
