Members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Environment, Science and Technology have appealed to metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies as well as the Regional Co-ordinating Councils to take the issue of tree planting seriously to avert possible environmental catastrophe in the country.
Mr. Kwame Owusu-Frimpong, Chairman of the Committee, who made the appeal, said if Ghanaians did not take the necessary precaution, the country would soon be engulfed in serious desertification with disastrous consequences.
He was speaking at a meeting with the executive committee and environmental sub-committee of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) in Kumasi, on Monday.
The visit was part of the committee's programme to assess the environmental situation in the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies and discuss ways that will help to improve sanitation in their communities.
Mr Owusu-Frimpong said it was the responsibility of all Ghanaians to ensure that proper environmental sanitation was maintained at all times.
He said the Committee had realized that it had a lot to do to assist the assemblies, especially the metropolitan and municipal assemblies to fight the unhygienic conditions in their areas adding that, the Committee would do everything possible to assist them solve environmental challenges confronting them.
Madam Patricia Appiagyei, KMA Chief Executive said the assembly spent about 589,200 Ghana cedis every month to collect and dispose 36,000 tonnes of waste in the metropolis.
She said, the inability of the assembly to pay waste collection contractors resulting in the heaping of refuse at the transfer stations, led to the introduction of the City-wide Solid Waste Collection Levy Scheme, which began on January 1, this year as a means of generating revenue locally to support the financing of waste collection in a sustainable manner.
She, however, said initial assessment indicated that there would be the need for 40,000 household bins at the cost of 4,800,000 Ghana cedis and 40 communal containers to be immediately placed at the various transfer stations after evacuation, adding that, this would also require additional 120,000 Ghana cedis.
Madam Appiagyei said the provision of the bins and the containers, among other identified measures, would help ensure the successful implementation of the scheme.
She said a private revenue mobilization agency would be engaged to collect service delivery fees to ensure easier revenue mobilization and effective monitoring of payments from beneficiaries.
Madam Appiagyei said the assembly would liaise with the central government to ensure the payment of outstanding debt of about 3,600,000 owed to waste collection contractors in the metropolis.
Alhaji Mustapha Ahmed, Ranking Member of the Committee, said the KMA had led the way in establishing key paths in waste managem in the country and appealed to it to play a leading role in tree planting to enable other assemblies to follow.