"I made a definite commitment in our party manifesto and will, therefore, ensure that the projects are executed by 2021 to end open defecation in Accra and other regional and district capitals," he said.

President Mahama said this when he inaugurated the Lavender Hill Faecal and Mudor Waste Water Treatment plants in Accra on the theme:"Clean Environment, Green Energy."   The plants were constructed by Nanjing Wonders Environmental Protection Company Limited, a Chinese firm, for Sewerage Systems Ghana Limited through a public-private partnership with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly.

The objective is to give Ghanaians a decent environmentally acceptable standard facility with the 2,400 cubic-metre capacity Faecal Treatment Plant. The plant could also generate over 7.5 megawatts of power for the people in the capital. The project, which started on September 9, 2014, occupies a land area of 7.5 acres and comprises a block of offices which also house a well-equipped laboratory, grid screening machines, storage tank, machine for odour control and an up flow anaerobic sludge blanket.

President Mahama said government, through the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, had already embarked on the provision of household toilets in the capital and would soon introduce the bio digesters to reduce indiscriminate disposal of liquid waste.

"Lavender Hill has been a scar on all Ghanaians...and if there is any project that my government has undertaken with happiness and pride then it is this Faecal treatment project," he said. President Mahama commended Sewerage Systems Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of the Jospong Group of Companies, for undertaking the project that would serve over two million people in the capital.

He appealed to the MLGRD and other service receivers to pay for services for the project to continue serving more people.  Alhaji Collins Dauda, the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, said it was a magnificent and historic project which would solve the faecal disposal challenges in the capital.

He said the treatment and hygienic disposal of liquid and solid waste had been a major challenge and the construction of the plant would, therefore, eradicate all contentious issues that erupted from indiscriminate disposal.  Alhaji Dauda said the plant had the capacity of receiving 200 truck- loads of faecal matter a day.  He gave the assurance that his outfit would continue to partner other companies to replicate the construction of similar projects in other regional and district capitals while two more facilities would be constructed in Ga South.

Mr Said Haider, the Managing Director of Sewerage Systems Ghana Limited, said the 80 million dollar project would serve about two million people and create job opportunities for hundreds of people. He commended Mr Joseph Agyepong Siaw, the Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies, for coming out with the idea to establish the multi-million-dollar project at the Lavender Hill.

Nii Ayibonte II, on behalf of the Ga Traditional Council, commended the Government for the project which, he said, would bring tremendous relief to the people of the area and the entire capital.