ZOOMLION TAKES ON ADDITIONAL TASKS IN TWIN-CITY (PAGE 29)

ZOOMLION Ghana Ltd, a sanitation management company, is not a household name only in the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis, but also a renowned name all over the country.
The company is in charge of the daily cleaning and beautification of major roads in the metropolis.
It is involved in the grassing and planting of ornamental trees and shrubs along the roads and major roundabouts in Sekondi and Takoradi.
The major roads and roundabouts are the Sekondi road through the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly to the Western Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC), the Kwame Nkrumah and Paa Grant Roundabouts in Takoradi and the RCC Roundabout in Sekondi.
The Western Regional Operations Supervisor of Zoomlion, Mr Felix Boankrah, told the Daily Graphic that the company had been given an additional responsibility for ensuring cleaning of the entire Sekondi Stadium.
Also, he said some private companies had sought its services for the cleaning of their offices.
Mr Boankrah said the company had set up a Pest Control Unit to fumigate refuse dumps, refuse container sites, stagnant waters and drains in the metropolis.
It was in recognition of the excellent work the company was doing that the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Private Sector Development and President’s Special Initiative (PSI), in collaboration with the management of Zoomlion, has initiated support for some selected markets and local industries in the metropolis.
Under the package, the company will ensure total cleanliness of the areas.
These areas are the Sekondi Market, garages as well as the Takoradi Central Market and garages.
As part of the support, Zoomlion would set up sanitation corps to ensure that the selected places, including the markets, garages and light industrial areas were always clean.
The sanitation corps would also organise programmes to educate the public on the need to keep the environment clean and tidy.
Speaking at the launch of the support for local industries and markets in Takoradi, the Minister of Trade, Industry, Private Sector Development and President’s Special Initiative (PSI), Papa Owusu Ankomah, said most of the ministry’s activities were geared towards international trade, while very little was heard about domestic trade.
He said the first phase of the project, which would end in 2009, would help the selected areas to be very neat.
The Project Co-ordinator of Zoomlion, Ms Freda Prempeh, said the company would collaborate effectively with the ministry towards the successful implementation of the project.
She stressed that the company had a proven record in sanitation management, since it had the requisite financial and human resource capacity and the equipment to work.
The Western Regional Chairman of the Council of Indigenous Business Association (CIBA), Mr Kwesi Ahoboh, appealed to the ministry to establish a fund to sponsor the master craftsmen to train the youth, especially those in the rural communities and also offer them loans to expand and improve their services.