by JULIET AKYAA SAFO
Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Chief Executive Mohammed Adjei Sowah has rallied assembly members and other stakeholders to support the agenda of the assembly to make the President’s declaration of making Accra the cleanest city in Africa a reality.
He said achieving that mission required a huge change in policy, action plans, enforcement mechanisms and attitudes.
He made the call in his first sessional address to the assembly in Accra last Thursday.
Mr Sowah reiterated efforts by the AMA to collaborate with the relevant agencies to transform Accra into a business-friendly city.
According to him, the agenda also focused on providing and maintaining basic services and facilities in the areas of education, health, sanitation as well as other social amenities to improve the quality of life for people in Accra, especially the vulnerable.
Sanitation
Mr Sowah announced that the National Sanitation Day was to be observed in Accra as “Sanitation bye-law enforcement day.”
He explained that environmental health officers would be deployed to the sub-metros to enforce the sanitation bye-laws.
“Our public health officers and community development officers have already started this exercise with house-to-house inspections to rid the city of filth,” he added.
He also called on the assembly members to mobilise their people to take part in the sanitation exercise and to subscribe to services of their respective waste collection contractors and pay the requisite fees.
Waste management
Highlighting strategies adopted by the assembly to control waste management, Mr Sowah explained that the assembly would promote waste-to energy mechanisms, and construct waste transfer stations to cut the long distances to the final disposal sites.
Touching on ways to prevent the perennial flooding in the Accra metropolis, Mr Sowah explained that the assembly was collaborating with the Ministry of Works and Housing to pursue the Accra Sanitary, Sewage and Storm Water Drainage Alleviation Project (AS3DAP).
He also explained that in line with measures to eliminate open defecation in the national capital, the assembly would implement the Greater Accra Metropolitan Assembly Area Water and Sanitation Project (GAMA- SWP), funded by the World Bank, with the aim of increasing access to improved sanitation and water supply for over 250,000 people in especially low income urban communities.
Development projects
Speaking on developmental projects, Mr Sowah stated that the assembly would complete all ongoing projects.
“My cursory observation has revealed that completion timelines of most projects have elapsed, yet most projects have not been completed. I would, therefore, make a personal effort to ensure that all projects are completed,” he stressed.
On the street naming and property addressing project, Mr Sowah explained that an amount of GH¢10 million would be needed to properly install property number plates, as well as undertake sensitisation programmes for stakeholders in the metropolis.
“The assembly has received an amount of GH¢416,200 under the Capacity Support Fund Project for the Merging of Valuation Roll with the Property Addressing System,” he added.
He said the merging of the valuable roll with the property addressing directory had resulted in the identification of 46,000 potentially new properties and increased the revenue base of the assembly.
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