[ 2021-03-15 ]

Tema Sewer System: Ambitious project to address predicament
It was jubilation galore as scores of residents of
Tema, danced to the blurring sounds from mounted
speakers in a jarring fashion to welcome the
construction of the new Sewer Network and Waste
Water Treatment Plant.








Euphoria?

That removed their long suffering following the
shutdown of the sewage system built in 1963. A
problem of old was to be fixed with the
construction of a new Plant at the hitherto touted
most planned city in the country – Tema.

The weather was unmistakably pleasant and equable
as there was slight showers in the early hours of
that Sunday, October 25, 2020 and clouds begun to
form yet again. It was at the peak of an intense
electioneering campaign and residents from Tema
and its environs defied the threats of rain and
thronged Tema Community Three.

At the start of the ceremonious sod-cutting of a
modern plant, Apostle Mathew Buettey-Larbi, Tema
Area Head, Church of Pentecost, was at his
spiritual best as was the Sakomo Wolomo, Nii
Ashiboi Kofi, who made libation all the while
fostering syncretism, right after the Apostle’s
Christian prayer.

But nearly five months after the rather grand and
impressive sod-cutting ceremony, some residents
whose joy it was to see the commencement of the
project, reckon their excitement was seemingly
short-lived as they looked forward to seeing some
physical works at the project site.

Expectations

Mr Emmanuel Boakyi, 57, resident of Community
Three, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview
at Tema expressed optimism,that “the project has
come as a relief to remedy our long suffering, and
in spite of the seeming tardiness, I had not
thrown my hands in despair and I can only wait
unabatedly for its commencement.”

While painting a rather vivid, albeit unpleasant
imagery of the situation which has persisted for
years, he asserted that “we are exposed to
serious health hazards as a result of the
collapsed treatment plant and some fecal matter
from manholes spill over when it rains and
sometimes end up on walkways with accompanying
pungent smell.”

Background

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 Metropolis.

It was under the management of the then Tema
Development Corporation until 1998 when it was
transferred to the Tema Metropolitan Assembly
(TMA).

Currently, almost all the sewer lines have become
obsolete and overage as the whole treatment
facility has been shut down and raw sewage flows
through a bypass directly into the sea without
treatment causing some discomfort to road users on
portions of the Tema Beach Road.

It is normal to see raw untreated sewage running
through open drains and sometimes gushing out onto
streets in Tema thereby creating environmental
pollution and serious health hazards for
residents.

The initial design capacity of the plant was
20,000 cubic meter per day for a total population
of 14,937. But the current population of Tema
stands at 360,828, hence the need to construct a
new sewerage system to remedy the age-old
problem.

Proposed Project and Benefits




The proposed modern treatment plant-a combined
system that will treat both waste water from the
network and fecal or sept age from trucks.

Its capacity is 44,000 cubic meters per day for
wastewater from the sewer network and 1000 cubic
meters per day septage from septic trucks for
areas that are not on the network.

The entire process comprises the construction of
an entirely new treatment plant, the
rehabilitation or retrofitting of the pumping
stations and the construction of a new
reticulation system or sewer network.

The end products of the process will be thae;
sledge will be mixed with greeneries and household
waste to valorize into compost for agriculture
fertilizer, and biogas will be converted to
electricity.


The construction of another Solid Waste Treatment
Plant at Ashaiman will be a major boost to dealing
with the problems and constraints in environmental
sanitation in that area.

The Solid Waste Treatment Plant will be a 400
metric tons compost and recycling state of the art
waste treatment infrastructure to provide a
sustainable solution to the solid waste disposal
problem in Ashaiman which generates 177 tons of
waste daily.

It will also create jobs, improve the health and
wellbeing of communities in the various districts
including; Tema which generates 271 tons of waste
daily, Ashaiman, and Adentan Municipality where 80
tons of waste is generated daily.

During construction of the Tema Sewer Network and
Waste Water Treatment Plant, some 1,700 jobs will
be created with 500 permanent jobs after its
completion.

When fully operational, revenue will be collected
as connection fees, especially those who have been
illegally connected and the replacement of sewer
pipes will offer the opportunity to reconnect
households and businesses.

Approximately, 70,000 households and businesses
are connected to the sewer network, but only
14,948 are captured in the database of the Tema
Metropolitan Assembly for billing purposes, so the
rehabilitation will ensure the collection of more
reliable data on users.

Government’s commitment to waste management
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has in
diverse ways exhibited an unwavering commitment to
environmental sanitation and waste management in
the country with the establishment of the Ministry
of Sanitation and Water Resources solely dedicated
to solving sanitation related issues amongst
others.

Speaking at the sod-cutting ceremony in October
2020, the President re-emphasized government’s
commitment to working with various private sector
operators to tackle waste management, with
strategies intended to effect a change in
attitudes towards waste generation as well as
improve dramatically the methods of waste
management.

President Akufo-Addo said with the increasing
population of Tema, the old sewer system, now
obsolete, could not cope with the volumes of waste
generated as a result of the increased population
of 360,828 as the Ghana Statistical Service put
it.

“It is, thus, for this reason that government
deemed it prudent to facilitate the construction
of an integrated Recycling and Compost Plant and a
Waste Water Treatment Plant to address the
environmental sanitation challenges confronting
the good people of Tema '' he said.

Role of Sewerage Systems Ghana Limited (SSGL) and
Partners
The Sewerage System Ghana Limited (SSGL), a
subsidiary the Jospong group, with its French
partners – EMO and EIFFAGE - will execute the
project.

SSGL, with a track record as a liquid management
company, rehabilitated the Mudor wastewater
treatment plant at James Town with capacity of
18,000 cubic meter per day. The plant which was
non-functional for over 10 years and had
wastewater bypassed without treatment to the sea,
is currently running and being managed by SSGL.

From scratch, SSGL also built an ultra-modern
septage and faecal plant at the infamous Lavender
Hill with a capacity of 2000 cubic metric per day
as this stopped the many decades of dumping raw
faecal matter into the sea. The project is being
undertaken by SSGL in partnership with EMO and
EIFFAGE.

Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong, Founder and Executive
Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies,
speaking at the ceremony said, the old system was
divided into two basins; the Southern Basin
covering Communities Two and Three, the Western
Basin which covers Community Five, Six, Seven,
Eight and Nine and the Eastern Basin which covers
parts of Community Four and Seven.

He noted that in 1998, a survey was conducted to
ascertain the problems associated with the
sewerage system and some recommendations made, but
due to financial constraints the recommendations
could not be implemented.

“Our attention was drawn to this challenge in
2017 and we decided as a company and key partners
to take it up as a key private sector player to
strategize and find a long-lasting solution to the
problem.”

Conclusion




It is hoped that with the pomp and pageantry that
greeted the sod-cutting ceremony, physical
construction work would begin in earnest to remedy
the age-long problem bedeviling the residents of
Tema including; 57-year-old Mr Emmanuel Boakyi of
Community Three, whose fervent hope is to see the
project materialize.

Source - GNA

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