The Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Mrs. Cecilia Abena Dapaah, has applauded Zoomlion Ghana Limited for the rapid reclamation of the Oti Landfill.
She said in the beginning, the landfill was a nightmare to everybody who lived in the community.
“Today, I am very happy that the larger part of the landfill has been encapsulated and made beautiful for human occupancy.
“This adds to government’s effort to ensure climate change in Ghana,” she stated.
The 20-year-old Oti landfill in the Ashanti Region, which covers over 65 acres of prime land, has the potential to host wedding receptions, parties, picnics etc when completed.
Mrs. Dapaah said the ponds within the landfill would be used for aquaculture to help create jobs for youth in the region.
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 government that the project will be completed and handed over by December 2022.
The Consultant for Zoomlion Ing. Felix Atsu, said the heap of waste was about 30 feet high and in order 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 said after their technical evaluation, the gas was not sufficient for commercialisation, so they intend to break it into smaller bids and flare it to avoid future explosion as well as save human lives.
Ing Atsu, was optimistic that the project will finish on time despite the heavy rains that make it difficult for their equipment to move on the site.
Mrs. Cecilia Dapaah led 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 government’s agenda for climate change.