The JOSPONG Group of companies (JGC) has commissioned a €20-million compost and recycling plant at Adagya, near Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.

Known as the Kumasi Compost And Recycling Plant (KCARP), the facility is part of waste management giant Zoomlion Ghana Limited’s Integrated Recycling and Compost Plant (IRECOP) project, established to receive, sort, process and recycle waste.

The project, which was started in 2017 and completed in 18 months, was constructed by Sewage Systems, also a subsidiary of the JGC, and co-funded by the EXIM Bank of Hungary and the JGC.

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, represented by the Asafohene, Akyamfour Asafo Boakye Agyemang-Bonsu, was the special guest of honour at the event, which attracted many stakeholders with interest in sanitation, including the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Ms Cecilia Abena Dapaah, officials of the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council and the Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Kobby Asmah.

Facility

The facility, a 1000m3 state-of-the-art waste water treatment plant, is located at Adagya in the Bosomtwe Constituency in the Ashanti Region.

It covers an area of 150 acres and comprises a solid waste plant, a restaurant, a clinic, a cafeteria, lecture halls, an administration block, a conference hall and other auxiliary facilities.

It is intended to provide a sustainable solution for managing liquid waste within Kumasi and its environs in an efficient and environmentally friendly manner, using a comprehensive European treatment technology.

Also, it will process solid waste into reusable materials such as compost, plastics, metals, paper, among other items, with the by-product being used as organic fertiliser.

About 500 people are expected to be employed from the start to work on a maximum of 1,000 cubic metres of waste a day.

Vision for waste management

In a speech at the commissioning, the Executive Chairman of the JGC, Mr Joseph Siaw Agyepong, said the vision of the company was to partner the government to manage and rid the country of filth.

He said to achieve that, the JGC was to roll out e-waste projects across 10 of the country’s 16 regions, intimating that the company had received a $20-million support from the Hungarian government to commence waste management plants in Tamale and Takoradi.

It was also setting aside GH¢5 million to research into the country’s solid and liquid waste and how to turn it into useful tools, he said.

That, Mr Agyepong further explained, would facilitate studies into the issue in Ghana’s universities on how to convert such waste into energy-generating ventures.

He said it also tied in with the government’s vision of creating a proper waste management system across the country.

Tackling sanitation

Mr Agyepong commended the Asantehene for offering the 150-acre land towards the realisation of the dream.

While applauding President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the manner in which he had handled the coronavirus disease (COVID 19) pandemic, he reckoned that the disposal of faecal matter into water bodies was a contributory factor to the spread of the virus, the more reason the issue of sanitation needed to be taken seriously.

Private partnership

Officially commissioning the plant, Ms Dapaah said the plant marked a historic milestone in dealing with waste management in Greater Kumasi.

She said sanitation was at the heart of President Akufo-Addo’s government, and it was the reason much was being done to bridge the sanitation gap.

She commended the JGC for partnering the government under its Integrated Liquid and Recycling plant in all the 16 regions of Ghana.

The minister announced that under the Ghana Sanitation and Water project, the World Bank had extended an additional $50 million for its expansion for the next four years.

Also, the ministry had received $1 million from the African Development Bank to undertake feasibility studies into waste management in some parts of the country, especially the north, she said.

Employment avenue

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Simon Osei Mensah, said the commissioning of the project was a great relief to urban dwellers who had to bear the brunt of indiscriminate dumping of refuse, with its attendant health hazards.

He expressed joy at the fact that the plant would create jobs and become a learning centre for the youth.

In a speech read on his behalf by the Regional Co-ordinating Director, Mr Donkor, the regional minister commended the government for creating the enabling environment for the private sector to thrive.

Put it to good use

On behalf of the Asantehene, Akyamfour Agyemang-Bonsu commended the government for providing the right support for the project to take off.

He said Kumasi and its environs had, for many years, been battling with waste management.

The Asafohene called for strict adherence to sanitation bye-laws by the various assemblies so that the efforts of the Jospong Group would not go waste.

Source: Graphic