The Jospong Group of Companies has rolled out a 50-year development plan for Kumasi under its Kumasi Compost and Recycling Plant (K CARP).
The aim is to manage waste efficiently and improve sanitation and the environment.
In line with the vision, the company is expected to commence Africa's biggest waste treatment plant at Adegya in the first week of next month, while a second facility, in collaboration with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), is to be rolled out soon at Boadi under the Oforikrom Municipality.
Beyond that, plans are also afoot to establish satellite treatment plants across the metropolis within 50 years to be able to manage the increased tonnage of waste.
Select committee
The General Manager for K CARP, Mr Samuel Ntumy, told a 15-member Select Committee of Local Government and Rural Development at Adegya in the Bosomtwi District in the Ashanti Region during its final visit ahead of production next month that a lot of backup measures had been put in place.
They included a research team to convert waste into other usable items for the region.
He appealed to the committee to assist to extend the current offtaker agreement which permitted the company access to 600 tonnes of waste to 1,200 tonnes.
Mr Ntumy said the new facility had the capacity to manage twice what the agreement currently provided for.
He announced that the company had rolled out a programme dubbed "one-house, one-bin campaign.”
Under it, the company was distributing one million bins this year.
Agyapong
The Executive Chairman of the JOSPONG Group, Mr Joseph Siaw Agyapong, commended the committee for its support over the years and for guiding the company towards the birth of both the Accra and Kumasi compost plants.
He said about $50 million had been spent for the project and an extra €30 million Eximbank loan for its water treatment project.
Mr Agyapong said the cost of investment shot up because it had to construct a nine-kilometre road from the outskirt of the town to the facility site.
The executive chairman announced that plans were afoot to export the technology to about five states in Nigeria.
Committee
The Select Committee, led by its Vice Chairman, Mr Sulemana Adamu, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ahafo Ano North, also included a Ranking Member, Nii Lante Vanderpuje, the MP for Odododiodio.
Mr Adamu, commended JOSPONG for its foresight and big dream to make Ghana a centre of excellence.
He said as a result of the facility, communities had sprang up expanding the boundaries of the community.
Mr Adamu said the construction of the roads and the provision of basic amenities were gradually making the place attractive.
About the plant
The project is expected to offer 500 direct and 300 indirect jobs to the locals.
The 18-month project becomes operational in the first week of next month.
The plant will treat all liquid waste generated by about three million residents of Kumasi and its surrounding areas.
Currently, liquid waste generated within the region is discharged into open water bodies due to the lack of a facility to treat it.
The treatment plant will be managed by the Sewerage Systems Ghana Limited, an engineering, construction and procurement specialist subsidiary of the JOSPONG Group.
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