Regional News of Tuesday, 9 November 2021
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2021-11-09Aboso residents in Prestea Huni Valley wallowed by filth
play videoAccording to residents, the stench emanating from the site is very unpleasant
Correspondence from Western Region:
Filth has engulfed the entire Aboso community in the Prestea Huni Valley Municipality as three major refuse sites are full.
The refuse centers at the main lorry station, Compound Kesse and Mandey Line all in Aboso have heaped to a mountainous level leaving residents in a state of worry.
People leaving around
Read full articlethese refuse sites are complaining bitterly because they cannot stand the stench emanating from these refuse sites. They fear if there is an outbreak of cholera in the community, many people will suffer even more than Covid-19.
The refuse site at Compound Kese is surrounded by the SDA church and many stores selling various items including food, provisions among others.
While the one at Mandey Line also has a well, Guest House, food joint and a drinking spot.
GhanaWeb noticed traces of water from the refuse dump which has found its way closer to a well in the area. According to residents, anytime it rains it drains from the refuse site to the well site making it unsafe for drinking.
But that is what they fetch for their daily domestic activities of which food vendors fetch that same well to prepare food for sale.
According to workers at a guest house in the same area called I am that I am Lodge, they have complained severally to assembly members of the area to find a lasting solution to the problem but to no avail. They noted that patronage has been slow due to the stench emanating from the refuse.
Speaking in an interview, the Assembly Member of the Area, Eric Konnie, popularly known as Cashito said, “the refuse has been a challenge in this electoral area and the entire Aboso community”.
He noted that all the three refuse sites have been given to three contractors to manage without the communities getting any proceeds from it.
He explained that “I have complained to the contractor to visit the site in order to know the problem in the area but he has refused to come there. I have also complained to the Environmental Department of the Prestea Huni Valley Municipal Assembly but they have not given any response to my plight, making things difficult for me as an assembly member”.
He added that, “what even pains me is that when the containers are full, the contractors will still take money from people who come to dump refuse at the various sites”.
The spokesperson for all the contractors at Aboso Henry Nyenzu Kwoffie explained in an interview that “our part of the contract was to organize the refuse at the various sites so that Zoom Lion company will come with their trucks to pick the containers”.
He stated that “for some time now, that the containers are full, Zoom Lion trucks are no longer picking the containers leaving the refuse to develop into mountains”.
Manager for Zoom Lion Ghana in the Prestea Huni Valley Municipality, Samuel Paa Kwasi Ephraim noted that the company is faced with some challenges of late making it difficult for the trucks to lift the containers.
According to Mr Ephraim, because the refuse dumps have heaped, it will require heavy-duty equipment to evacuate the refuse to clear the sites.
He gave the assurance that the company is working had to solve the problems and hit the grounds running in order to bring sanity to the Abopso community.
