The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly has said it spends close to seventy percent of its revenue on sanitation management, thereby taking a huge toll on its revenue, according to the Chief Executive.

The MCE, Samuel Pyne says the assembly is committed to addressing this challenge in order to rake in revenue more revenue for other sectors.

In view of this, KMA has launched an initiative to restore Kumasi into its original glory, “The Garden City.”

The initiative is under the European Union Funded Holistic Reinforcement for Sustainable Development (HORESD) project, dubbed “Keep Kumasi Clean; Lets Recycle” in partnership with Cape Verde and Manra of Spain, the city of Valencia.

Speaking at the launch, Mr. Pyne said the waste collected will be sold to generate revenue for the assembly and for sustainable job creation.

The Mayor says the project is starting with eight brand new trucks for waste collection, and litter containers to store the dirt for collection and waste pickers.

“We have eight brand new trucks for this project, a thousand unit containers. We have made facilitation of aggregators to purchase recyclable materials from waste pickers. We will have four compost sites within the city and two mini recycling plants to take charge of the waste produced.”

He believes this initiative will create jobs for the people and rake in revenue for the Assembly

“And this is going to create jobs for the people and also give resources to KMA to enable us pursue our developmental Agenda.”

The assembly has embarked on an extensive campaign in Adum to create awareness about the initiative.

Mr. Pyne says, fees will be charged on collection of the waste to sustain the initiative with maintenance of tracks and payment of waste collectors.

He believes with the support of the people, the fight against filth in the metropolis will yield results.

Head of Cooperation, European Union Delegation, Massimo Mina, says a network of monitoring has been instituted to monitor the progress of the initiative and ensure its sustainability.

The programme will start on November 1, 2023.