Zoomlion Cautions Public Against Imminent Floods

Robert Coleman, Ag. PR Manager Zoomlion

By Patrick Baidoo

The Acting Communications Manager for Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Mr. Robert Coleman has called on Ghanaians to change their attitudes towards environmental sanitation. This, he says will reduce the perennial flooding in homes and shops in Accra and other urban areas nationwide.

In an interview with Water and Sanitation Times in Accra over the weekend, he indicated that flooding in certain parts of the country could be attributed to the activities of man such as dumping of refuse in open drains and at unauthorized places.

Such situation he explained blocks water ways leading to flooding whenever it rains.

“In some communities as soon as the rain begins to fall, people rush with their refuse and dump them in drains,” he said, adding, “Such residents refuse to subscribe to the services of waste management contractors due to their unwillingness to pay for the said services.”

According to Mr. Coleman   since its inception, Zoomlion has taken upon itself to educate the public on the importance and benefits of good sanitation practices, hence its adoption of the vision “Champion of clean green and healthy communities.”

“We have embarked on several public education campaigns all aimed at trying to change the attitudes of the Ghanaian towards sanitation, we believe we have achieved a lot , however we still have some distance to cover,” he said.

He was particularly concerned with business people and shops with open drains in front of them and cautioned them to avoid throwing rubbish into them.

Cost of flooding to Ghana’s economy

The main drainage problems facing urban cities in Ghana may be categorised into 3 groups namely erosion, flooding, and pollution of surface waters.

In simple terms, urban flooding is a natural process in which drainage systems spill to their plains during storms. In Ghana the causes of urban flooding although diverse, are to some extent interrelated. This perennial situation according to statistics available cost the nation over GHS 3 million, annually beside the human and infrastructure casualties.

New Year School

The Public Relations Manager’s assertion buttressed a statement the Executive Chairman of the Zoomlion Group, Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong made when addressing the annual New Year school at the University of Ghana in January, 2013, which indicated that “Improper waste disposal, scavenging and lack of sanitation services expose people to public health diseases.”

The event was on the theme, “The key to future health of our nation: improved, water, sanitation and hygiene.”

About Zoomlion Ghana

The waste management giants, established in 2006, has turned the fortunes of waste management in the country  around by the introduction of simple but modern techniques of waste collection thereby making  major roads and ceremonial streets in the capital and other regional and district capitals  clean, green and healthy.

The company since the year 2007 has embarked on a series of public education activities such as the Lorry Park sanitation project in October 2007, the national campaign for improved sanitation in September 2008 (tin ton tan) and the Zoom kid’s project, which currently has over 400 health and sanitation clubs in basic schools spread across the country.

Others projects that the company has undertaken to instil sanitary habits include: Public education in Islamic communities, public education with traditional authorities, churches, and education at market centres across the country.