Chairperson of the Council of State, Cecilia Johnson, says there is need for increased private sector participation to augment existing government policies to ensure effective waste management in the country.

“Increased urbanisation has put a strain on social infrastructure in our cities, and that poses a challenge to effective waste and sanitation management. The recurrent manner in which we keep experiencing floods in the country shows that as a nation we lack the capacity to manage waste.

“Though government has in place policies to ensure proper waste management, increased private sector participation is welcome to help tackle the problem,” she said at the official opening of the KNUST-African Institute of Sanitation and Waste Management (K-AISWAM) in Accra.

K-AISWAM is a waste management and environmental services institute that will serve as a vital education and training resource. It was born from collaboration between the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and Zoomlion Company Limited.

K-AISWAM will offer graduate, undergraduate, diploma and certificate programmes of study in sanitation management and the environmental sciences: such as environmental and civil engineering, chemical engineering, meteorology and climate science as well as settlement planning.

The institute will concentrate on research and development and, through public-private alliances, disseminate research and experiential-based knowledge to agriculturalists, industrialists and policymakers to inform best practices in waste management.

“The country has seen rapid urban growth as a result of the increase in the country’s population, rural-urban migration and the classification of settlements from rural to urban -- a situation that has put a significant strain on social infrastructure in urban areas and the ability of cities to manage the sanitation and waste implications.

“It is in this regard that private sector participation has become critical for us as a country,” Ms. Johnson said, and commended Zoomlion for its efforts to solve the country’s waste problem.

Joseph Siaw Agyepong, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Jospong Group of Companies, said Zoomlion Ghana Limited is delighted to be championing such a worthy cause as providing professional training to help manage issues in the country’s waste management sector.

“The institute is an embodiment of the company’s resolve to tackle the issue of waste management in the country, having recognised the need for a strong connection between technology and innovation to ensure effective and productive management of waste in the country, and the continent as a whole.

“As a company, we will remain committed to collaborating with various stakeholders to address the issue of effective sanitation management, while pushing enterprise development to create jobs,” he said.