Finance Committee MP calls for proper utilisation of sanitation levy

A member of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Yussif Jajah Issaka, has called on the government to channel the 10 pesewas sanitation levy to address critical areas for maximum results.

Acknowledging that the accrued amount may not be enough to address all sanitation needs of the country, he observed government has a responsibility to ensure that Ghanaians get value for money.

“We need to call on the attention of the government to channel the environmental levy into aspects of sanitation that will help us; once it is a canker, whatever any government will do to address it must do – and any government must ensure that all challenges associated with sanitation become things of the past,” he stressed.

The levy is for 10 pesewas on the price per litre of petrol/diesel under the Energy Sector Levies Act (ESLA).

Yussif Jajay made the call when members of the joint Parliamentary Select Committee paid a working visit to the Kumasi Compost and Recycling Plant at Adagya in the Ashanti Region, to familiarise themselves with the operations of the plant.

He emphasised the need to support local partners in addressing the challenges of the country, particularly sanitation.

“I am happy with what I have seen here at the Kumasi compost treatment plant and its heartwarming that similar plants are being replicated across the country.

“This will address the air and environmental pollution associated with landfills. It’s absolutely the way to go,” he observed.

Jajah, therefore, called on Ghanaians to segregate refuse to make the recycling process easier as is done in developed countries, adding that this will even make the recycling process much less cumbersome as compared to the current situation wherein the company has to do everything from scratch – and this, he believes, adds more cost and prolongs the recycling process.

KCARP – the largest waste-management plant ever constructed in the country – is drastically reducing sanitation challenges in the country. The facility is able to convert 80% of raw waste into compost, plastic pellets among others.

This is a state-of-the-art waste management facility with the capacity to process some 1,200 metric tonnes of solid waste per day. The facility has also the capacity to process 1,000 cubic metres of liquid waste per day.

The newly inaugurated compost and recycling plant is part of Zoomlion Ghana Limited’s Integrated Recycling and Compost Plant (IRECOP), a waste processing and recycling facility established by the Jospong Group of Companies to receive, sort, process and recycle waste.