The Minister of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mahama Ayariga, has given Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) 30 days to secure one-acre plots for the construction of waste transfer stations.

The directive forms part of the government’s plans to improve waste collection and disposal and address the infrastructure gaps contributing to the country’s sanitation challenges.

Mr Ayariga announced this on Saturday, October 3, during a National Sanitation Day exercise in Accra to mark World Cleanup Day.

He said the transfer stations would be established across metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies, while Greater Accra, Greater Kumasi and Sekondi-Takoradi would also be required to identify suitable locations for properly engineered landfill facilities.

The Minister said the lack of adequate waste management infrastructure remained a major challenge, citing shortages of collection bins, waste trucks, transfer stations and properly managed landfill sites.

He said many of the existing landfill facilities were also not properly engineered or managed, making it necessary for government to invest in new infrastructure.

Mr Ayariga said the government’s priority was to establish a more effective and efficient waste management system in line with President John Dramani Mahama’s directive.

He said the current open-bucket method of collecting waste would also be phased out and replaced with floating waste bins as part of efforts to improve collection and ease the burden on sanitation workers.

“We will not allow you to carry waste in open buckets,” he said.

The Minister further disclosed plans to engage the Finance Minister, Dr Ato Forson, on ways to reduce what he described as unnecessary public expenditure and channel the savings into critical areas, including waste management.

He said reducing spending on official travel and other non-essential government expenditure could create fiscal space to finance the needed waste management infrastructure.

Mr Ayariga said the government was committed to addressing the sanitation problem by providing the infrastructure required to support a sustainable waste management system.