Gbalahi (N/R), August 01, GNA - Alhaji Aliu Mahama, the Vice President, has said the sanitation situation in the cities was assuming serious dimensions that needed to be checked.

He said it was a common feature to see heaps of refuse and flying polythene materials everywhere while drains were blocked with garbage due to careless disposal of waste.

Vice President Mahama said this on Monday when he inaugurated a 9 billion-cedi sanitary landfill built by a Chinese firm for the Tamale metropolis at Gbalahi.

The facility is expected to last between 15 and 20 years. The Vice President said some people were refusing to use the sanitary facilities that the assembly had provided and this had contributed to the outbreak of preventable sanitation related diseases such as cholera.

This not withstanding, the Vice President urged the assemblies to explore options available including external support to address sanitation issues.

He said the institution of sanitation week and the establishment of cleanest city contest among Metropolitan, Municipal and District assemblies were some of the measures put in place by the government to instil good hygiene and sanitation practices among the people. He urged the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly to institute a sound management system for the facility to ensure that it served the purpose for which it was constructed.

Vice President Mahama said a 62 million-dollar credit facility from the World Bank would be provided for Accra, Tamale, Kumasi, Tema and Sekondi-Takoradi under the second phase of the Urban Environmental and Sanitation Project (UESP II) to upgrade facilities in the cities. He said Tamale would benefit from four out of the five components of the project, which included Community/Public/ School sanitation, Solid Waste Management, Community Infrastructure and Upgrading and Institutional Strengthening.

He said the projects would cost 4.5 million dollars and it is expected to commence in September and appealed to the people in the metropolis to help the assembly to monitor the contractors who would be engaged in the execution of the project.

On the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Vice President said about 130,000 people has so far registered and about 30,000 of them had started to benefit from the scheme.

Mr Mohammed Amin Adam, Tamale Metropolitan Chief Executive, said the assembly spends 130 million cedis a month to clean the city while its local revenue generation stood at 50 million cedis. He said but for central government support, the assembly would not have been able to clean the city and appealed to the people to pay their taxes regularly to enable the assembly to raise revenue to undertake development projects such as hospitals, schools, water facilities and roads.

He said the assembly would soon engage in dialogue with the people of Tamale to assist clear off the several unauthorized structures on roads, especially those on the ceremonial roads.

Mr Adam said the assembly would consult with chiefs, opinion leaders and political party executives for advice on how to go about the exercise.

The assembly would also appoint a Citizen Base City Beautification Committee to be supported by a Technical Committee to handle the beautification of the metropolis