Jospong Group inaugurates $20m recycling, compost plant in Accra
Ghana’s quest to address environmental waste received a significant boost on Friday, with the inauguration of an integrated recycling and compost plant for the Jospong Group of Companies Limited.
The $20 million ultra-modern facility has the capacity to process 400 tonnes of organic, plastic, and other waste into usable raw materials to feed the agricultural and other industries.
It is a collaboration between Jospong Group of Companies and Messrs KOMPTECH Limited, Austria, and one of the16 plants set to be established in all the regions in Ghana.
Three additional plants are due to be installed in Kumasi, Tamale and Takoradi by the end of August this year to support government’s efforts in managing waste.
Called the Accra Waste Recovery Park, the plant is expected to create 2,000 direct and indirect job opportunities along the value chain.
Inaugurating it, Vice President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, in a speech read on his behalf by Mr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, Business Development Minister, commended Zoomlion Ghana Limited for the investments in environmental sanitation.
He said government had increased access to credit for the private sector from GH¢2.6 billion in September 2017 to GH¢4.7 billion.
Dr Bawumia told the gathering that Ghana was committed to achieving Sustainable Development Goals- especially Goal 6 which relates to the provision of clean water, sanitation and resilience to disaster.
The Vice President said he was hopeful that the compost plant would help prevent environmental pollution.
He urged the various assemblies to educate, sensitise and enforce sanitation bye-laws to rid the cities of filth.
Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation identified littering of plastic waste as a threat to the environment and said the ministry had developed a comprehensive plastic waste strategy to manage it.
He said the inauguration of the multi-million dollar facility gave him hope that waste segregation at the disposal sites was possible.
Mr Patrick Yaw Boamah, the Deputy Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources said the clean Ghana agenda could be achieved if the people changed their attitudes.
He encouraged the private sector to continue to provide result oriented solutions while the government created the enabling environment for them to thrive.
Dr Joseph Siaw Agyapong, Executive Chairman, Jospong Group of Companies, noted that materials recovered in the form of plastics, paper, aluminum, glass and metal would be used as raw materials by factories set up on the Park to make new products.
He said Zoomlion was leveraging technology to provide efficient recovery of resource from waste.
Dr Agyapong whose company operates in other African countries stated that Ghana generated five million tonnes of waste annually which could be harnessed as means of livelihood to many people.
According to him, the initiative was in line with government’s industrial transformation agenda of One-District-One- Factory.
He outlined some of Zoomlion’s projects as the $10 million credit facility for the distribution of one million household bins in 2018, distribution of 500 skip trucks to the various assemblies in 2018, and effectively run ten mechanical street sweepers in February 2019.
Others were commencement of the construction of ultra-modern liquid waste treatment plant in Kumasi in partnership with Pureco Limited from Hungary and the establishment of a dustbin manufacturing plant in Kumasi in 2019.
CAPTION: Mr Awal and National Chief Imam, Sheikh Dr Osman Nuhu Sharubutu unveiling the plaque. Standing with them is Dr Agyepong.
BY MALIK SULLEMANA
