The inability of the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) to pay waste management contractors for the waste they collect to the dumping sites is seriously affecting the clearance and disposal of garbage from the designated points.
The delay has currently resulted in unsightly heaps of garbage and overflowing containers at the markets throughout the metropolis.
Vehicles belonging to waste management contractors are said to have broken down and they need money to maintain them.
At the Takoradi Central Market, all the three huge containers placed in front of the Ghana Commercial Bank, U-84 and opposite the Takoradi offices of Ghana Textile Printing company are overflowing with garbage.
One of the interesting things is that despite the stench emanating from the heap of rubbish, hawkers display their wares and go about their business.
At the moment, the waste management contractors claim the delay in paying them for their services is having a negative effect on their business, since they have to maintain their trucks.
Although they would not disclose how much money the assembly owes them, they said the payment was too slow to support any result-oriented venture such as waste management.
Apart from the central market, there are other areas in the metropolis where the containers have been waiting for days to be lifted.
When the Daily Graphic contacted the assembly, the Public Relations Officer, Mr John Laste, acknowledged the problem and said there were processes the payment had to go through for the contractors to be paid.
The contractors first had to submit their claims to the assembly, which would also ensure that proper procedures had been followed before effecting payment and asked the waste contractors to bear with the assembly.
“I can say for a fact that waste management is one of our top priorities, and we would not compromise the health of the people for anything, but we also have serious social problems that hamper the dreams of the assembly,” he said.
“Take the Market Circle, Takoradi; houses around the market are supposed to use the door-to-door service, but before the market women commence business, the residents might have filled the containers with their household waste,” he lamented.
“I can assure you that if the people respected the laid-down regulations, things would be different; waste produced at the market would not fill the containers in a day”, he added.
That aside, Mr Laste said the amount residents were paying for their waste was pittance, which could not support the assembly. “It is too abysmal and even that they will not pay. Therefore, we find ourselves in a very difficult situation”.
He further explained that the assembly had to find a way out to ensure that the city was not engulfed in filth. “What the public forgets is that when we talk about waste management, they have a very important and prime role to play. The moment they assume that it is the duty of the assembly, then we are in trouble. But immediately residents recognise the problem and become part of the solution, there lies our redemption,” he said.
“That notwithstanding, we are doing everything possible to ensure that the city is the neatest in the country,” he said.
Mr Laste used the opportunity to warn residents around the Market Circle to desist from using the refuse containers meant for traders and appealed to the contractors not to neglect their duty, since they would be paid.
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