Accra, June 27, GNA - Waste Management experts from Ghana and Italy are working on the construction of a Waste-to-Energy plant in Accra to process solid and liquid waste generated in the Metropolis. The plant, to be located at Weija, near Accra, would be equipped with machinery to convert biomaterial waste into gas, electrical energy and compost manure.

Mr Ali Baba Abature, Special Assistant to the Accra Mayor, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview on Tuesday that the construction of the plant would offer a permanent solution to the perennial waste management problem faced by the Capital.

He said the Waste-to Energy plant also had machinery to sort out biomaterial waste from plastic, iron and other foreign materials and could recycle plastic waste.

He said the plant had been necessitated by the need to reduce Government's expenditure on waste management in the Metropolis, which currently stood at 20 billion cedis a month.

Mr Abature said only 20 per cent of residents in the Metropolis paid for waste management services provided by the AMA, adding that Accra generated about 2,000 tonnes of solid waste daily.

He said a team of consultants; engineers and technocrats from Italy were currently in the country to conduct feasibility studies on the construction of the plant, which would be operational in 2008. He said Accra had three main refuse dumping sites located at Oblogo, Teshie and Kwabenya, adding that the Oblogo dumping site would soon reach its maximum capacity.

He said the Teshie composite plant was not performing at optimum level due to the high content of plastic waste and that the compost produced also attracted low patronage by farmers. Mr Abature said the AMA had concluded negotiations with the Chief of Oblogo, Nii Kwaku Bibini, to continue using the dumping site located near the community.

He said the AMA had fulfilled all the demands of the Oblogo community, which included the provision of a market, clinic and access roads, and that the Assembly had further agreed to construct two new housing units for the staff of the clinic, and build new drains and access roads for the community.

Mr Abature said the people of the community had for the past two weeks, refused to allow refuse contactors of the AMA to dump refuse at the dumping site, resulting in huge piles of garbage in many parts of the Metropolis.

He said clearing the excess garbage would commence on Wednesday and that a local waste management company with 25 refuse trucks and 1,000 tricycles had been contracted to help to clear the garbage within a week.