Sanitation in Kumasi receives major boost with 2.5M Euros EU support
24th March 2022
Sanitation in the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi, is set to receive a major boost following a 2.5 million Euro funding support from the European Union.
The initiative, dubbed the Holistic Reinforcement for Sustainable Development is a 30-month project which began on 1st January 2022, and it is aimed at primarily improving the sanitation situation within the metropolis.
It involves three local administrators- mancomunitat de la Ribera Alta in Spain as the coordinating partner, the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) in Ghana as the beneficiary, and the Chamber of Praia in Cape Verde as the third and collaborating partner.
As part of the initiative, pilot projects to improve waste management would be worked on, as a strategic urban solid waste management plan would be developed to be implemented within the metropolis.
It will also aim at improving the participatory capacity of the citizenry in Kumasi by creating the necessary platforms for citizens such as public forums to debate sustainable development goals. Also, through capacity building fora, it targets some change agents in various communities.
As part of the project, resolutions from forums and reinforcement of active participatory spaces will be captured in a strategic document dubbed, ‘Territorial Agreement for Sustainable Development’, which would be forwarded to authorities for the necessary action to be taken.
Residents of Kumasi have in recent times complained about the poor sanitation situation in the metropolis, which worsens whenever it rains.
Despite numerous assurances from authorities, the situation has not seen any significant improvement over the years, as residents have described the situation as one of the major challenges confronting them.
This claim by the residents has been corroborated by the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah.
“When the president gave me the opportunity to represent him in the Ashanti region, I did a survey to identify the top challenges of the region and among the first three was sanitation. The first was roads, the second was security and the third was sanitation. But as I speak, sanitation has moved to second after roads”.
Launching the Holistic Reinforcement for Sustainable Development (HORESD) project in Kumasi, the KMA mayor, Samuel Pyne, stated that he believes this initiative will significantly improve the sanitation situation in Kumasi.
“This project is going to improve the sanitation situation. It is important because it is not only looking at the management of waste but turning waste into wealth. That is a baby project that I always wanted to have because of the quantum of waste that we generate, if we are able to turn it into cash, it would be very helpful”.
He added that the project aims at turning waste generated in the metropolis into energy.
“We are going to look at converting the waste into energy”.
Speaking to Citi News, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, who is worried about the poor sanitation in Kumasi and the region as a whole, assured that he will constantly monitor the project to ensure that it succeeds.
“I will make sure on monthly basis, I will visit the project office and the project site to make sure it is going on smoothly and if there are challenges, I will join them to solve them.”
“The European Union is supporting this project in Kumasi which would be dealt with the Spanish authorities, Cape Verde’s capital city of Praia in order to exchange best practices and technicalities in terms of waste management and basic services. This is because cities in Africa, Europe and across the world are faced with growing challenges linked to fast urbanization rate,” The Head of the European Union delegation to Ghana, Ambassador Irchad Razaaly stated.
Source: citifmonline