The Lands Minister, Samuel Abu Jinapor, says his Ministry will insist on the concurrent reclamation and revegetation of mined-out lands by illegal miners.

He explained saying, "This means that when you excavate, you will reclaim, you revegetate immediately before you move forward."

The Minister said it is a wrong arrangement by law for illegal miners to reclaim and revegetate the lands 30 days after excavation which makes them leave behind a lot of lands degraded and move unto other areas.

The Minister said this when he visited a pilot mined out land reclamation site at the Bosome Freho District in the Ashanti Region on January 19, 2022, to obtain first-hand information on work progress on reclaimed lands chart the way forward for the project.

He said this pilot reclamation site is clear evidence of the ramifications of government's reclamation policy touted since the assumption of the Akufo-Addo’s government.

Mr Jinapor bemoaned the magnitude of the damage the actions of illegal miners have caused the country's Lands and vegetative cover, especially to the southern part of the country and pledged government’s commitment to reclaim all degraded lands across the country aggressively.

The Minister said considering the capital intensive nature of this project, government would develop intelligent ways to roll out this project. The Ministry has already started making arrangements to that effect.

"We will require a National Reclamation Fund to support the programme, and at the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, we are beginning to interrogate the mechanism within which we can have this National Reclamation Fund."

The Minister also hinted that he will introduce a Community Mining Scheme in the Yapeesa Kokoben community where these lands have been reclaimed to ensure that the illegal Miners in the community get an alternative source of livelihood.

Project Manager, Joojo Tibu Darko, who briefed the Minister on progress made, said the total work done at the reclamation site took them a duration of 4months to finish.

They also embarked on a massive sensitisation programme in the community before commencing the project.

Engaging all the Chiefs and other opinion leaders, and community members to educate them on the essence of the project.

He assured the Minister that after final discussions with the community to agree on which plants to grow and with the needed resources, they should be able to reclaim the entire landscape of about 393.8acres and hopefully commence revegetation by March this year.