The government is set to deploy the military to secure the Jamestown Transfer Station in Accra after the accumulated waste at the site is evacuated, Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mahama Ayariga, has announced.
Mr Ayariga said the military intervention is intended to ensure that the cleared area is protected from illegal dumping and does not return to its current state after the clean-up exercise.
He explained that government is currently assessing the capacity of the receiving landfill to determine whether it can accommodate the large volume of waste to be removed from the Jamestown area.
According to the Minister, the assessment will also help government determine the logistics required to undertake the evacuation exercise.
Mr Ayariga said the military will take responsibility for protecting the area once the waste has been removed, as government seeks to prevent the site from becoming a dumping ground again.
“After we’ve moved it out of Jamestown area, the military will take responsibility for protecting that area and making sure that we don’t bring back waste.
“The waste doesn’t stay on the land that we have cleared and create mess again for us. The Minister of Finance has some very interesting plans for the development of that area.”
He made the remarks during an inspection of the landfill as part of efforts by government to find a sustainable solution to the waste management challenges confronting the Jamestown area.
Mr Ayariga said the immediate priority is to determine whether the landfill has sufficient capacity to receive all the waste from Jamestown.
He added that the government’s intervention is not limited to the evacuation of the waste, but also includes measures to protect the cleared site and facilitate its planned redevelopment.
The exercise forms part of broader efforts to address sanitation challenges in Accra and ensure that waste disposal sites do not continue to pose environmental and public health concerns.
Source: Newspyramid.com
