{"id":37114,"date":"2014-08-05T12:49:31","date_gmt":"2014-08-05T12:49:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=37114"},"modified":"2014-08-05T12:50:09","modified_gmt":"2014-08-05T12:50:09","slug":"feces-clogged-shore-shows-africa-infrastructure-failings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/08\/feces-clogged-shore-shows-africa-infrastructure-failings\/","title":{"rendered":"Feces-clogged shore shows Africa infrastructure failings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fredrik Sunesson had high hopes when the first tanker truck unloaded feces from some of\u00a0Accra<\/a>\u2019s 4 million residents at his recycling plant in Ghana\u2019s capital. Seventeen months later, those expectations have been dashed.<\/p>\n

A combination of red tape and disputes over payments mean Sunesson\u2019s Slamson Ghana Ltd. is running far below capacity, he says.<\/p>\n

Most of the 140 tankers moving the contents of Accra\u2019s toilets each day drive instead to a foul-smelling point near the Gulf of Guinea known as Lavender Hill.<\/p>\n

The lagoon there is so polluted that scientists says most life-forms can\u2019t survive. The slum nearby has earned the nickname Sodom and Gomorrah.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a shame for everybody, most of all for the environment and the people of Accra,\u201d Sunesson said.<\/p>\n

Despite a series of infrastructure projects backed by foreign\u00a0donors<\/a>, Accra doesn\u2019t have a working sewer system, leaving most of its citizens to choose between communal latrines or defecating on open ground.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s contaminating the city\u2019s groundwater, according to the\u00a0World Bank<\/a>, and almost 700 people have contracted cholera since June.<\/p>\n

The failure to maintain existing treatment plants has rendered them unusable, while a lack of political will means there\u2019s little prospect of any immediate improvement.<\/p>\n

Accra\u2019s problems are an example of how external investment and good intentions often aren\u2019t enough to make a difference in\u00a0Africa<\/a>. As many as seven out of 10 people in sub-Saharan Africa have no access to flush or chemical toilets or latrines, according to the World Bank.<\/p>\n

Regional Spending<\/strong><\/p>\n

African\u00a0countries<\/a>\u00a0including\u00a0Kenya<\/a>\u00a0to Malawi are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to improve sanitation and build processing centers for waste. That kind of infrastructure investment is a focus of this week\u2019s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington attended by U.S. PresidentBarack Obama<\/a>\u00a0and more than 40 African leaders.<\/p>\n

The World Bank plans to give Ghana $150 million in grants to improve access to potable water and basic toilets for the poorest residents of Accra, where most roads are lined with open drains and gutters that overflow during heavy rain.<\/p>\n

\u201cGhana is among those countries with the lowest coverage in sanitation and also among those where coverage isn\u2019t improving,\u201d Flemming Konradsen, an expert on international environmental health at the University of Copenhagen, said by phone. \u201cSanitation generally isn\u2019t a priority of the population and it isn\u2019t a sufficient priority of politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

No Sewer<\/strong><\/p>\n

The absence of proper sanitation in Ghana\u2019s capital is shaving about 1.6 percentage points from the country\u2019s economic growth each year, according to the World Bank, which is based inWashington<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ghana\u2019s recent growth has still been dramatic, averaging about 8 percent in the past decade, pushing the country into lower-middle income status. Shopping malls, luxury housing and even a Nobu-inspired Japanese restaurant have sprung up since the discovery of oil in 2009.<\/p>\n

All that masks how inadequate the sanitary system is, Ventura Bengoechea, a sanitation specialist at the World Bank, said in an interview. More than half of the population dumps solid waste in open spaces, Ghana\u2019s national statistical service said last year in a report. Accra officials declined to comment on the city\u2019s sanitation problems.<\/p>\n

Accra \u201cwants tourism, the city wants you to be happy here,\u201d said Robert Ansah, an adviser to the city\u2019s mayor on sanitation issues. \u201cWe want the population to be healthy and we don\u2019t want them defecating on the beaches.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Accra\u2019s central Labadi neighborhood, Ayitey Mensah and his neighbors didn\u2019t bother to repair the toilet shared by 20 families when it broke eight years ago. They now clamber down a dune and defecate on the shoreline.<\/p>\n

Beach Toilet<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIf I go to a public toilet, I have to pay,\u201d Mensah, a 36-year-old welder, said in an interview. \u201cThis place, we call it the beach toilet. Plenty of people prefer to come here.\u201d<\/p>\n

In May,\u00a0Ghana<\/a>\u2019s government shelved a $595 million project to improve sewers, wastewater treatment and storm drains in Accra. More planning is needed, according to Ansah, who also serves as the project\u2019s executive secretary.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Export-Import Bank guaranteed financing for the plan, which included dredging the slimy black lagoon on Accra\u2019s shoreline. Without dredging, the lagoon\u2019s trash-strewn banks have been left with mounds of sludge as high as three-story buildings.<\/p>\n

Technical Capacity<\/strong><\/p>\n

A $22 million wastewater treatment plant nearby stopped working shortly after being built in 2000 because it wasn\u2019t maintained, according to the World Bank. Three fecal-sludge treatment plants don’t work because of poor maintenance. The existing sewer system, which reaches fewer than 10 percent of city\u2019s residents, isn\u2019t being looked after, the lender said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t solve drainage and not look at sanitation or not look at waste disposal,\u201d Ansah said. \u201cIt\u2019s a multi-faceted problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

The treatment plants \u201cwere difficult to operate, or sometimes there\u2019s no electricity,\u201d the World Bank\u2019s Bengoechea said. \u201cThe city authority doesn\u2019t have the technical capacity nor the funding to run\u201d them. There\u2019s also a lack of political impetus to provide basic sanitation, according to a study published by the\u00a0Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile the trucks continue to show up every day at Lavender Hill. Despite a court order to close the site, city authorities continue to take a fee of 15 cedis ($4) per load. That\u2019s enough to pay for proper treatment for the waste, the World Bank said.<\/p>\n

Appropriate Technology<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe government should give small-scale enterprises who are already on the ground a chance to expand their business, because sanitation can be a profitable venture,\u201d said Konradsen at the University of Copenhagen.<\/p>\n

Sunesson, Slamson Ghana Ltd.\u2019s owner, say his company\u2019s initial investment to handle half of the city\u2019s fecal waste and convert it into fertilizer pellets was $2 million, much lower than what\u2019s been spent on the other plants that now stand idle.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaintenance on this installation is so limited, there\u2019s so little you need to do,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t need the latest technology, you need technology that\u2019s appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source: Bloomberg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fredrik Sunesson had high hopes when the first tanker truck unloaded feces from some of\u00a0Accra\u2019s 4 million residents at his recycling plant in Ghana\u2019s capital. Seventeen months later, those expectations have been dashed. A combination of red tape and disputes over payments mean Sunesson\u2019s Slamson Ghana Ltd. is running far below capacity, he says. Most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":37120,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[38,17],"yoast_head":"\nFeces-clogged shore shows Africa infrastructure failings - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. 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