Accra (GAR), July 10, Mr Nat Nuno-Amarteifio, Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), today opened a one-day seminar to review achievements and problems of the Accra Solid Waste and Night Soil Disposal System. The seminar is being attended by international and local consultants on waste management, officials from the Ministries of Local Government and Finance, the World Bank, AMA and assemblymen. In 1985 the AMA with the assistance of the government and Germany initiated the programme to address the sanitation problem of Accra which was getting out of hand. The programme which is being implemented in four phases led to the restructuring of AMA and the creation of the Waste Management Department to specifically deal with the mechanical aspect of waste disposal with the Ministry of Health handling the educational aspect. So far, Berlin has contributed about 40 billion cedis in addition to technical assistance while AMA has provided salaries, fuel and services. The programme is in its last phase and is aimed at consolidating the gains and making it sustainable through decentralisation, privatisation and strengthening of the department. Mr Nuno-Amarteifio noted that a lot of changes which have taken place since the inception of the programme have affected its implementation. ”When it started the population of Accra was about one million, but now it is over 3.5 million. The functional limit of Accra was Teshie-Nungua and Chorkor, however, it has now stretched beyond Adenta”.
