The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources (MSWR), Mrs Cecilia Abena Dapaah, has called for support for waste management giant, Zoomlion, to enable it fulfill the vision of turning waste into green energy. Zoomlion Ghana Limited is a wholly Ghanaian owned company that focuses on delivering total waste management solutions. The company provides integrated waste management solution from waste collection, through haulage, transfer and sorting to recycling and disposal. According to the Minister, Zoomlion would soon have the capacity to turn waste into green energy, and thus appealed for support for Dr Siaw Agyepong and his Jospong Group of Companies (JGC). Mrs Dapaah noted that, that the government in its capacity has provided an enabling environment to make the private sector including Jospong to thrive. “The company as of now, recycles waste and as well turns waste into compost,” she said. The Minister who represented the Vice President, H.E. Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, at the thanksgiving service of the Company said, the JGC was being led by an “indefatigable humble and God-fearing person,” a reason the group has instituted an annual thanksgiving service. In his welcome address, the Executive Chairman of JGC, Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong, indicated that the thanksgiving service has been held annually to acknowledge the faithfulness of God in the group's operations, and also appreciate God for sustaining them. According to him, the Akufo-Addo administration has given real meaning to the truism that the private sector is the engine of growth. “Through His Excellency's transformational leadership and relevant policy interventions, an enabling environment for the private sector to grow has been created. …Our achievements this year are largely due to the enabling environment that the government of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has created.”
Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong
He stated that the enabling environment created empowers the private sector to do more, advising that “we in the sector should not waste it nor take it for granted.” He applauded President Akufo-Addo and his government, for his “immense contribution” to the environmental sanitation space in the country. “The government's achievement in this sector is unprecedented and historic and it is worthy of note that since independence, over 60 years ago, it is during this administration that Ghana has experienced massive environmental infrastructural improvement.” “Thirty-six (36) plants were commissioned within a year! These are 16 IRECoPs, 14 Medical waste treatment plants, 4 wastewater treatment facilities in Tema, Takoradi, Tamale and Kumasi, and decommissioning and reengineering of the two major landfill sites in Kpone in Accra and Oti in the Ashanti region with technical support from our American Partners using very modern technology”. He said the above projects have significantly helped to address the sanitation infrastructural deficit in the country and bridged the gap between waste collection and disposal with its accompanying consequences. Dr Siaw Agyepong also praised his workforce for their hard work towards the growth of JGC and Zoomlion.
Heavy duty truck drivers ready for operation clean your frontage
Meanwhile, twenty-seven (27) heavy duty truck drivers, who are part of the 58 drivers recruited for the operation clean your frontage project have successfully passed out at the Armed Forces Supplies and Transport Training School (FATS), Burma Camp in Accra. The training, which was a collaboration between the Armed Forces Supplies and Transport Training School (AFSTTS) and Zoomlion Ghana Limited, was to enable these newly recruited drivers to handle waste trucks set aside for the government's Operation Clean Your Frontage agenda. Speaking at the passing out ceremony on Friday, December 10, 2021, the Special Operations Coordinator of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Colonel Rogatus Komlaga (Rtd), said the drivers must effectively discharge their duties to ensure the success of the operation. Lieutenant Colonel Franklin Gyamerah- Amoako, who is the Commanding Officer of the Ghana Armed Forces Supplies and Transport Training School, commended the trained drivers for their hard work and commitment. He charged them to exhibit all that they were taught on the field by always being disciplined on the road Interacting with some of the drivers, they expressed how elated they were to have successfully completed their driving training, stressing that they are poised to contribute their quota towards making Ghana the cleanest country in Africa. The waste management company has been contracted to create refuse collection points in all the 29 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) in the Greater Accra Region. The Operation Clean Your Frontage, an initiative by the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council (GARCC), being spearheaded by the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, is to ensure all households and organisations clean and beautify their frontages to complement government's vision of making Accra the cleanest city in Africa.
Parade by Zoomlion drivers
As part of preparations to support the project, Zoomlion, has through the Armed Forces Supplies and Transport Training School, trained first batch of 27 Ghanaians in heavy duty truck driving, to man the waste trucks designated for the project.