By: Tabitha Kugbonu | Voltaonlinegh.com |
The Volta River Authority (VRA) has commissioned a 30-Standalone Biological Filter and Composter Limited (Biofil) Toilet facility at a cost of Gh¢150,000 for the people of Dzebetato in the South Tongu District of the Volta Region to solve sanitation and water related diseases especially bilharzias.
The Biofil toilet is a simple compact on-site organic waste treatment system that uniquely combines the benefits of the flush toilet system and those of the composting toilets and eliminates the disadvantages of both systems.
Speaking to Voltaonlinegh.com, Sam Fletcher, Manager, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), VRA on behalf of Shirley Seidu, Director, General Service Department (GSD), VRA said their aim was to eradicate the Bilharzia among communities along the Volta River.
Mr. Fletcher said Dzebetato was the second community to benefit from the Biofil Toilet in the region after Kebenu in the Central Tongu District which got the facility earlier.
According to him, Kebenu was recording as high as 84% of bilharzia cases and had reduced to 20% two years after Biofil toilet was installed in the community.
He observed that if Kebenu could reduce the rate within such a short time Dzebetato would in no time be bilharzia-free.
He said though VRA’s mandate is to provide electricity to every Ghanaian, they have always had the interest of communities at heart by working with communities to attain their developmental goals.
He therefore urged the people of Dzebetato to make good use of the facility.
Mr. Dennis Kwaku Buabeng, Head of Engineering at Biofil said the company had installed 8 Biofil toilets in many parts of the country and beyond.
Mr. Buabeng explained that their target groups cover different communities and cited projects done at places including Anglo-Ashanti Staff Courts, University of Cape Coast, toilets for schools under Ministry of Education, UNICEF, USAID etc and added that currently, they were working on World Bank funded project for low income communities in some 11 districts in Greater Accra Region.
District Chief Executive (DCE) for South Tongu, Emmanuel Louis Agama in a speech thanked officials of VRA for the project which he said was in line with government’s sanitation policy launched on December 13, 2017 by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo aimed at keeping the environment clean.
Mr. Agama said one of the key areas of the policy tasked MMDCEs to provide decent place of convenience for their people to prevent open defecation.
He disclosed that although the assembly had made tremendous effort towards addressing this sanitation problem, there were still lots of communities without household latrines resulting in open defecation.
The DCE expressed hope that the VRA project for the people of Dzebetato would bring total relief not just for that community but to the entire South Tongu.
Source: www.voltaonlinegh.com
