[ 2015-11-19 ]

Don’t comment on Afoko’s press confab – NPP to communicators
The private sector has been identified as a key
player in efforts to rid the country of filth and
insanitary conditions.

At the maiden sanitation stakeholder’s forum
Wednesday at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in
Accra, government agencies, donor agencies and
other stakeholders in the Water, Sanitation and
Hygiene (WASH) sector dialogued on the role of the
private sector in providing sustainable and
practical solutions to the country’s sanitation
challenges.

Speakers at the event stressed that there must be
greater partnership to build capacity, work
towards behaviourial change and the provision of
funds if progress would be made in cleaning the
country’s filth.

They also called for the creation of a platform
for direct dialogue between private companies,
government and the international community.

Minister of Local Government and Rural
Development, Alhaji Collins Dauda, said the
private sector has been instrumental in increasing
access to waste bins, waste recycling, composting,
haulage of municipal waste and ensuring better
management of final disposal sites and engineered
landfills.

He said Ghana’s Development Partners (DPs) have
also been helpful in the fight against Ghana’s
filth.

“Considering the fact that the government is
constrained in terms of financial resources, the
support of our DPs has gone a long way to improve
the sanitation situation in the country. Indeed,
if we are to forge ahead in improving insanitary
conditions in Ghana, we must consider it as a
shared responsibility,” the Collins Dauda said.


Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) at
UNICEF and Leader of the development partners, Mr
David Duncan identified capacity building, private
sector engagement, sustainability, knowledge
management, increased government prioritisation
and decentralisation as key areas that the DPs saw
as needing attention.

He said although substantial funds had been
committed to the sanitation sector by The
Netherlands (€100 million), Canada (over $100
million), the World Bank GAMA project (around $150
million), among other investments by other DPs,
“it is not the money that really makes the
difference”.

President of the Environmental Service Providers
Association, and Chief Executive of the Zoomlion
Company Mr Joseph Siaw-Agyepong said by the end of
January 2016, ‘Lavender Hill’ would be
cleared.

The Korle Gono-based Lavender Hill is famous for
its overpowering stench because raw liquid waste
is dumped there to flow into the sea.

He identified lack of access to financing and
non-enforcement of existing bye-laws, as well as
policies on sanitation, as challenges facing the
private waste management sector.

The maiden sanitation dialogue was organised by
the Environmental Services Providers Association
(ESPA), Zoomlion Company Limited, the Fidelity
Bank, the Graphic Communications Group Ltd (GCGL)
and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural
Development (MLGRD)

It was aimed at raising awareness of sanitation
issues, appeal to the international development
community and the government of Ghana to include
private companies in the execution of projects.

Source - MyjoyOnline

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