Sekondi Aug. 8 GNA - The Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) is to re-introduce sanitation courts to prosecute people who degrade the environment.

Captain Anthony Cudjoe (Rtd), Metropolitan Chief Executive, announced this at the first meeting of the fifth session of STMA in Sekondi on Thursday.

He said this is the only way Sekondi-Takoradi could regain its status as the cleanest city in the country, adding: 93We have done it before and we should be able to do it again." Captain Cudjoe said the Assembly has not dared very well in the area of sanitation and waste management.

He said the assembly must be committed to provide quality service so that the public would support its efforts at maintaining a clean environment.

Captain Cudjoe said a number of zones would be created in the Metropolis in collaboration with waste management firms in the private sector to improve on services.

He said the award of the contract would be based on the critical technical and financial proposals of the operators.

Existing service providers would also be subjected to rigorous checks to ascertain their ability to deliver before new contracts are signed with them.

Captain Cudjoe said the 93Pay as you dump" system would be encouraged in communities and expressed the need for the public to be educated educate the public to support the initiative.

He said challenges facing waste management in the Metropolis included obsolete equipment and vehicles, improper accounting of monies accruing from service provision, poor road network and absence of a waste management plan.

Captain Cudjoe said government released more than GH¢1,000,000 this month for payment for the services of some waste management contractors in the Metropolis.

He said Sekondi-Takoradi engineered landfill and septic treatment facility which is on- going at the cost of GH¢2,536,024.81 and being sponsored by the World Bank, would be completed by the end of the year.