The Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah has commended Zoomlion Ghana Limited for the rapid reclamation of the Oti Landfill towards a complete decommissioning.
She observed that the landfill had in recent times become a nightmare for residents who lived in the community, therefore, recognizing Zoomlion Ghana’s efforts to make it a thing of the past becomes necessary.
“Today I am very happy that the larger part of the landfill has been encapsulated and made beautiful for human occupancy. This adds to the government’s effort to ensure climate change in Ghana” the Minister expressed.
The development, the Minister said would pave way for the ponds within the landfill to be used for aquaculture to help create jobs for the youth in the region.
Mrs. Cecelia Dapaah maintained the two decades Oti landfill in the Ashanti Region which covers over 65 acres of prime land and has the potential to host wedding receptions, parties, picnics, and other events when completed.
As part of the exercise, she led a delegation to a pre-tree planting of about 30 trees at the site and gave the assurance that over 5,000 trees of different species will be planted at the place after the decommissioning exercise to further boost the government’s agenda for climate change.
A representative of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Ing. Kwodwo Osei said the motive behind the reclamation exercise is to save the environment.
He said the heap of waste was so huge that the company had to remove over 60,000 cubic meters of waste to be able to begin the spreading and capping exercise.
He assured the government that the project will be completed and handed over by December 2022.
Also, the Consultant for Zoomlion Ghana, Ing. Felix Atsu, revealed the heap of waste was about 30 feet, and to drill and sink pipes to capture the gas in the capped landfill they technically had to cut some of the waste away and spread some to an appreciable level of about 20 meters to facilitate the process.
He continued that after the technical evaluation, it came noticed the gas was not sufficient for commercialisation therefore they intend to break it into smaller bids and flare it to avoid future explosions as well as save human lives.
Ing Atsu was optimistic that the project will finish on time despite the heavy rains which makes it difficult for their equipment to move on the site.
