|
International Year of Sanitation launched
Accra, Feb. 26, Ghanadot/GNA - The Ministry of Local
Government, Rural Development and Environment is currently
collaborating with other key sector players to explore
practical innovations and solutions in funding and
management of waste.
Sector Minister Kwodwo Adjei-Darko said waste recycling,
re-use and recovery were waste management principles that
must be adopted to ensure sustained service delivery.
Speaking at the launch of the International Year of
Sanitation at Chorkor in Accra on Tuesday, he said the
Ministry was putting institutional and policy framework in
place aimed at ensuring a sustainable delivery of sanitation
in the country.
It was on the theme: "Building Partnership for Improving
Sanitation."
The minister mentioned some of the institutional measures as
revision of the national environmental sanitation policy,
upgrading and strengthening the Environmental Health and
Sanitation Unit at all levels and creating the enabling
environment for private sector involvement in waste
management.
Mr. Adjei-Darko said the time had come to see waste as an
inexhaustible resource that could be used to create
employment and contribute to poverty reduction, adding that,
it cost government over 23 million Ghana cedis last year to
collect waste in Accra, Kumasi, Tema and Sekondi/Takoradi.
He said only five million Ghana Cedis out of the 23 million
Ghana cedis was paid due to financial constraints and noted
that it was not only a disincentive to the contractors but
also against the Ministry's policy of encouraging the
private sector to take up waste management.
This, he observed, was also in line with the realization of
the objectives of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aimed
at improving sanitation among the population and reducing
infant mortality by 2015.
He, however, said some progress had been made with support
from development partners despite the many challenges
confronting the sector, critical among them being low
funding and negative attitudes, behaviour and practices
among the populace.
Mrs. Wilma Van-Esch, who spoke on behalf of development
partners, said the developing communities were expecting
with keen interest the preparation of a Strategic
Environmental Sanitation Investment Plan that was expected
to provide a platform for effective investment for
systematic and incremental improvement in environmental
sanitation infrastructure and services.
GNA
|
