REPLACE TEMA SEWER LINES (PAGE 36, NOV 29, 2010)

THE President of the Full Gospel Church International, Rt. Revd Samuel Mensah, has appealed to the Tema Metropolitan Assembly to replace sewer lines in the Metropolis to avoid any future environmental disaster.
He said frequent blockage and subsequent explosion of some sewer lines in Tema, which exposed faecal materials, must be taken seriously and a solution must be found to it.
Rt. Revd Mensah who was speaking to the Daily Graphic in Tema on recent developments in the Metropolis noted that the sewer lines had outlived their lifespan and, therefore, must be changed.
He acknowledged the good work of the Assembly and commended the Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr Robert Kempes Ofosuware, for the efforts he is making to give Tema a facelift.
He explained that the ongoing asphalt projects on some major roads in the metropolis and filling of pot holes in the communities were commendable.
Rt. Revd Mensah said roads in Tema had seen some improvement as promised by the Chief Executive when he took Office in 2009 and urged him on to do more to bring Tema to its status as the industrial city of the country.
He noted that Mr Ofosuware had shown commitment to the work he had been tasked to do.
Rt. Revd Mensah noted that while performing his duty, the Chief Executive, Mr Ofosuware, must take note of the sewer system and slums which were rapidly emerging.
He cautioned that the road works must be closely monitored to ensure that the contractors did good and quality work.
Rt. Revd Mensah called on the Metropolitan Engineers to insist on specifications which would make the work last with regard to their intended life span.
On the slums, Rt. Revd Mensah acknowledged the need for people to be housed but noted that indiscriminate, unsightly and unplanned structures must be pulled down.
He stated that the efforts of the Assembly would come to naught if slums were encouraged, adding that the beauty of the harbour city would be tarnished.
Rt. Revd Mensah urged residents to help the Assembly to execute its planned projects by paying their levies and rates.
The Head of the Waste Management Department of the Assembly, Mr Edward Mba, in an interview, said sewer lines linking households in the metropolis were over-aged and would need to be changed at a cost running into millions of Ghana Cedis.
He said the capacity of the pumping station could not cope with the increasing population and needed to be increased while the treatment plant needed to be rehabilitated.
Mr Mba noted that there were several sewer lines connected to the pumping station which, with gravity, sent the house to house waste to the treatment plant.
He stated that there were some communities which were not hooked on to the sewer system because the capacity of the pumping station could not accommodate them.
Mr Mba said the capacity of the pumping station needed to be increased to have all the sewer lines hooked on it.
He stated that the pumping station and sewer lines were installed in the 1950s to serve the modern township of Tema but had never been changed or rehabilitated over the years.