Accra — Stakeholders of the second phase of the Accra Sewerage Improvement Study have discussed how to facilitate the implementation of the donor-driven project that included detail designs, cost estimates and environmental management plan for Accra.

The participants comprising clients, consultants, government agencies and user groups spent about three hours deliberating on the sustainability and management of various aspects of the study being undertaken by the government and the African Development Bank as part of a five-year major rehabilitation of Accra Central Sewerage System and procurement of operational equipment.

Speaking during an interactive session, Dr Charles Yeboah, Deputy Minister of Works and Housing, urged the consultants to explain the project concept thoroughly to the beneficiaries to elicit their suggestions.

"I will also urge all participants not to be passive to what is happening but actively participate in the discussions, bringing out all their concerns and aspirations."

Mr. Kofi Brew, Chief Manager for Planning and Development at the Ghana Water Company Limited, said the study would help the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to live up to the task of managing sewerage in the capital. Some participants suggested the need for cost effective technologies that would ensure sustainable management and also check the offensive odour associated with solid and liquid waste.

Those from low-income areas in the city asked for a package that would make it easy for households with pan-latrines to either connect to the sewerage system or switch to affordable and modern toilet facilities.

The second phase of the study, spanning May 2003 to next January is essentially an update of the first sewerage improvement study completed in 1996 by Sogreah Ingenierie, a French consultant in association with Comptran Engineering and Planning Associates of Ghana.

The Study recommended the improvement of sanitation sites in Accra for a 30 year-period using least cost option and environmentally sound collection of sewerage.

Lahmeyer International of Germany and Watertech Limited of Ghana are undertaking the second phase that involves an oceanographic study and design of two sea outfalls at Burma Camp and Korle-Gonno to ensure the intake of treated sewer for discharge into the sea and the siting of a number of improved public toilet facilities at vantage points within the Metropolis.