AMA gets temporary dump site

Daily Graphic (back page), Friday, Sept. 19/08

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho

THE AMA has started dumping solid waste at a landfill site at Kwashie Bu in Accra, 24 hours after the call for the closure of the Oblogo landfill site by the Oblogo Mantse, Nii Kwaku Bibini III.
The 15-acre quarry site has for the past nine years been operated by a waste contracting company, Yafuru Waste, and the company has filled about two thirds of the site to reclaim the land.
A source close to the site told the Daily Graphic that the AMA on Wednesday morning fumigated surrounding buildings in the area.
Later, the source said trucks carrying solid waste were seen dumping their waste at the site.
An insider who wanted to remain anonymous gave a brief history of the site to the Daily Graphic, saying that the AMA was given the permit to operate the site in 1993 but they left for a bigger site at Mallam after working at the Kwashie Bu site for two years.
The insider said the land, which belongs to the Mayaku Family of Accra, was then given to Yafuru Waste in 1995, after which an agreement was signed in 1998 between the queen, Naa Adokwei Mamaga II, and officials of the company to refill the place.
So far, part of the land that has been reclaimed by the company has been used for the erection of a school and a church.
When the Daily Graphic visited the site yesterday, it was observed that the AMA had taken charge of the site and was issuing out tickets to trucks that brought their waste for dumping.
An official of the AMA who did not want to be mentioned confirmed that the AMA was going to work there on a temporary basis.
Further enquiries from other sources revealed that a four-member delegation from the waste department of the AMA yesterday morning visited Naa Mamaga II to discuss how best the AMA could partner Yafuru Waste to refill the site.
The source also confirmed that the AMA Chief Executive, Mr Stanley Adjiri Blankson, was also going to meet the queen later in the day to finalise the agreement.
According to the source, the delegation assured the queen that the AMA was only going to be at the site for between three and four weeks, after which they would move to Sampa, near Weija, where it was constructing the roads and also putting in place other social amenities before it starts operations there.