The Hungary government has devoted a €70 million loan facility to construct 13 wastewater treatment facilities in all regions of the country.

This is to complement solid waste treatment facilities constructed in parts of the country.

Addressing the Asantehene at Manhyia Palace on Saturday, President of Hungary, Janos Ader, said his government is committed to helping Ghana deal with sanitation challenges.

He led a delegation from Hungary to the Ashanti Region to inspect the wastewater treatment facility in Kumasi.

“If you say we need clean drinking water, we can offer suitable technologies to produce that. If you say that the water treatment system in Kumasi is working well and you need others, we are ready for that, and we are ready to assist to construct other plants,” he said.

Aside from the Ashanti Region, which has such a treatment facility, construction is ongoing in Takoradi and Tamale.

Through a loan facility from the Exim Bank of Hungary to the Jospong Group of Ghana, a Hungarian company, Pureco is executing the projects.

The thousand cubic metre per day facility serves over 2 million people in the Ashanti Region.

It can receive and treat 150 cesspit tanks of liquid waste trucks a day.

A Memorandum of Understanding has also been signed between the two private entities from both countries, Jospong Group Limited and Pureco, for the 13 more to be built in other Regions.

Joseph Siaw Agyepong explained the impact on the country’s waste treatment.

“Each region has plants for solid waste, and we are now looking to get liquid waste plants to set them up. As for medical waste treatment, it is already set up in there.”

“So then you will have a three-dimensional plant solving medical, solid and liquid waste problems”, he emphasised.

Meanwhile, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who is enthused about the partnership, stressed the need to achieve a sustainable environment.

“We should go beyond the talk and signing of documents in Accra and Budapest. Let us put action to what our people need.”

“We are a third-world country, we need development, and we will be dependent on your support, direction and assistance,” he said.