Story By: Ishmael Barfi
The Minister for Samitation and Natiral Resources, Madam Cecilia Abena Dapaah has categorically described the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as a visionary leader whose desire is always to rally private sector to partner government to develop the various sector and economy of Ghana.
According to her, the President since his tenure in office has exhibited a high sense of political commitment in ensuring Ghana becomes a cleanest country in the Sub-Sahara Region.
The Minister for Sanitation and Natural Resources made these assertions at the Sod-Cutting Ceremomy for the Construction of the Tema Sewer Network and Waste Water Treatment Plant and The Ashaiman Solid Waste Treatment Facility in the Tema Metropolis on Sunday, 24th October,2020.
With regards to December 7th, she urged the people of Tema Metropolis to vote massively for His Excellency, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and all the three Parliamentary Candidates for Tema West, East and Central respectively.
This she noted is to enable President Akufo-Addo and all the three Parliamentary Candidates to continue implementing life changing policies and enfrastructures in Tema Metropolis and Ghana at large.
“It is indeed historic to have such a project under Nana Akufo-Addo”, she emphasized.
Ministry of Sanitation and Natural Resources she said is aimed at promoting behavioural change of citizenry as it embarks on numerous sanitation projects to make Ghana clean as well secure the health of the ordinary Ghanaians.
This can be attested by the records of Ghana Health Service with regards to Cholera outbreak under the governance of His Execellency, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
The Tema Metropolis comprises of Tema West, Tema East and Tema Central, all in the Greater Accra Region.
The Tema Sewer Network and Waste Water Treatment Plant And The Ashaiman Solid Waste Treatment Facility is a partnership between Jospong Group of Companies and the Ministry of Sanitation & Natural Resources.
This project is to improve the current state of the sewage system in the Tema Metropolis and its evrons.
The Tema Sewerage System was constructed and commissioned in 1963 and consequently rehabilitated in 1994 for the collection, transport and treatment of human excreta and grey water within the Tema Metropolis.
The management was under the control of the then Tema Development Corporation until 1998 when it was transferred to the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA).
Currently, the whole treatment facility has been shut down and raw sewage flows through a bypass directly into the sea without treatment.
Almost all sewer lines have become obsolete and overaged that, It is very common to see raw untreated sewage running through open drains and gushing out unto streets in Tema thereby creating environmental pollution and serious health hazards for the people of Tema.
This has been the situation in Tema for so many years now.
The initial design capacity of the plant was 20,000m3/day for a total population of 14,937. Current population of Tema is 360,828 (Statistical Service, 2019), hence the need to build a completely new sewerage system.
The proposed treatment plant which is a modern waste water treatment plant, is a combined system that would treat both waste water from the network and faecal/septage from the trucks.
The treatment plant’s capacity is 44,000m3/day for wastewater from the sewer network and 1000m3/day septage from septic trucks for areas that are not on the network.
The entire process comprise; Construction of a new treatment Plant;Rehabilitation/retrofitting of the Pumping stations and Construction of a new reticulation system (sewer network).
The byproducts of the process which is Sludge, would be mixed with greeneries and house hold waste to valorise into compost for agricultural fertilizer, whilst Biogas generated would be converted to electricity.
Source: www.thenewindependentonline.com
