Four landfill sites in the Ga South Municipality, near Accra, have been capped and prepared for recreational and business activities.

They are the Oblogo, Mallam SCC, Mallam Number One and Mallam Number Two landfill sites.

Until they were reclaimed, the sites, which served as dumping sites for refuse from all parts of Accra for 10 years, emitted overpowering stench which became a nuisance and posed health challenges to adjoining communities.

The rehabilitation of the landfill sites was carried out as part of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly’s (AMA’s) solid waste management component of the Government of Ghana and the World Bank urban environmental sanitation project, phase two.

The World Bank released $1.4 million to Ghana for the capping of the four landfill sites, which cover 158 acres.

Two local waste management companies, Zoomlion and Malson Company Limited, did the capping of the four landfill sites.

WasteCare Associates, a local firm, was the consulting company for the projects.

All the four sites have clay barriers, laterite layers, peripheral drains, chain link fencing and planted local shrubs to check erosion.

Capped sites

An engineer and consultant on the project, Mr Lukman Salifu, told the Daily Graphic that the sites were now environmentally friendly.

He said the sites could be used for recreational, commercial and agricultural purposes.

However, he said structures such as offices or schools could not be built on the reclaimed sites because of site differentials.

A site differential means that some areas on the capped sites could go down faster than other areas and so any structure put up on the sites could collapse within a short period of time.

Mr Lukman said because of the circulation of methane gas around the capped sites, activities involving the use of fire would not be encouraged.

Handing over

The Chief Executive Officer of the AMA, Mr Alfred Vanderpuije, handed over the landfill sites to the Ga South Municipal Assembly last Friday.

In his remarks, Mr Vanderpuije said the hitherto mountainous dump sites containing more than five million metric tonnes of refuse posed health challenges to residents, a situation which forced them to make incessant complaints to the AMA.

He said the government sought the assistance of the World Bank to reclaim the landfill sites and save residents from continuous health challenges.

Mr Vanderpuije challenged the Ga South Municipal Assembly to protect the sites against encroachment.

The Ga South Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Jerry Thompson, warned encroachers against putting up any structures on the sites, since they belonged to the assembly.

He said the assembly would develop the sites for recreational and development activities to generate revenue to support its operations.

Residents’ reaction

Some residents of Oblogo, Gbawe and McCarthy Down, who lived around the capped sites, told the Daily Graphic that they were generally happy about the capping of the landfill sites.

They said hitherto the sites made the surroundings very dirty, besides the poignant stench, especially after heavy downpours.

Mr Prince Odahe, a resident of Oblogo, said prior to the capping of the landfill site in the area, flies hovered around the area, which caused discomfort to residents.

His worry concerned the gas extraction that he learnt would be done on the site and asked the authorities to put in place safety measures to save residents from any harmful effects.

Another resident, Mr Sackey Addo of McCarthy Down, said residents still suffered from the stench of the dirty water coming out from the Mallam SCC landfill capped site.

He explained that the situation became worse whenever the managers of the capped site released the dirty water collected from the site into a nearby gutter.

He, therefore, appealed to the authorities to take steps to manage the flow of dirty water from the site.

Daily Graphic