Takinta (W/R), Aug. 23, GNA - The Jomoro District Assembly has called for private partnership in the provision of toilet facilities in the District to improve environmental sanitation. Mr Duodu Acheampong, Jomoro District Planning Officer, made the call at Takintal near Half Assini in the Western Region, during a public forum of Takintal Area Council stakeholders on a medium term development plan.

He said like any other investment, people could equally invest in the provision of toilet facility in joint partnership with the District Assembly. Mr Acheampong said the Assembly on its part would release land to any investor for the toilet project, while after defraying the expenses incurred during the construction of the project, the toilet becomes the property of the investor and that the Assembly would only be taking commission. He said it was not the Assembly's mandate to provide toilet facilities to communities and advised land developers to include toilet facilities in their building plans or they would not have their building plans approved by the Assembly. The Planning Officer was reacting to calls for the Assembly to provide toilet facilities in the coastal communities in the District where residents had been asked to stop using the beaches as their places of convenience.

Mr Johnson Kwesie of Friends of the Nation, an NGO, said defecation at beaches impelled tourists and also caused health hazards so he advised residents at the coast to desist from the act. The programme was organised by the Jomoro District Assembly in collaboration with the Kumasi Institute of Technology and Environment. 23 Aug. 11