Government Mobilises Trucks, Heavy Equipment for Jamestown Waste Evacuation

The government has begun mobilising state and private-sector resources to tackle the huge accumulation of waste at Jamestown in Accra, with plans to deploy trucks, excavators, bulldozers and loaders for a large-scale evacuation exercise.

The Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mahama Ayariga, disclosed this on Thursday, September 3, 2026, during a media briefing at the Jamestown Waste Transfer Station.

The briefing formed part of a three-day assessment of Ghana’s waste management system, which has taken the Minister and technical teams to several waste management facilities across the Greater Accra and Eastern regions.

According to Mr Ayariga, Thursday’s exercise was specifically aimed at assessing the actual volume of refuse accumulated at Jamestown and gathering the technical data required to determine the scale of the evacuation.

He explained that the extent of the problem was difficult to appreciate from a distance.

“We see this from afar. We drive by, we really have no sense of the enormity of the challenge,” he stated.

The Minister said the government would bring together the Ministries of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs; Roads and Highways; Defence; Finance; and Environment to mobilise the resources needed to clear the waste.

Mr Ayariga disclosed that the state currently has more than 100 trucks, in addition to several pieces of heavy machinery, which would be complemented by equipment from the private sector.

Government also plans to engage contractors operating in the Greater Accra, Eastern and Central regions to provide additional trucks and heavy-duty equipment.

These would include:Excavators,Bulldozers,Loaders,  Waste-hauling trucks

The Minister said contractors would particularly be encouraged to make use of heavy equipment that may currently be sitting idle on construction sites.

Technical teams from Zoomlion Ghana Limited are deploying drones to survey the Jamestown site and determine the volume of waste that has accumulated.

The data gathered will help government establish the exact number of trucks required, the number of trips necessary and the estimated duration of the evacuation exercise.

Mr Ayariga stressed that the operation would be based on technical data rather than estimates.

This, he explained, would allow contractors to make specific commitments regarding the quantity of waste they can evacuate.

Beyond construction companies, the government intends to approach mining companies and major industries to support the exercise through their corporate social responsibility programmes.

Rather than requesting cash donations, the Minister said companies could either deploy their own equipment or engage contractors to remove agreed quantities of waste.

This approach, he said, would ensure that support is directly channelled into the evacuation operation.

The intervention follows Wednesday’s announcement that the accumulated waste at Jamestown could be transported to the Adipa Engineered Landfill at Nsawam in the Eastern Region.

The facility has substantial remaining capacity and has been identified as a possible destination for the waste evacuated from Jamestown.

The decision follows inspections conducted by the Minister and his team as part of the government’s assessment of the country’s waste management chain.

The current exercise began on Tuesday, September 1, with inspections of several facilities, including the Accra Compost and Recycling Plant (ACARP), the Jamestown Waste Transfer Station, the Achimota Waste Transfer Station and the Kpone Landfill.

On Wednesday, September 2, the team visited the Adipa Engineered Landfill at Nsawam to assess its capacity and suitability for receiving waste from Jamestown.

Thursday’s visit focused on determining the magnitude of the waste accumulation at Jamestown.

Mr Ayariga said the assessment would provide the technical information needed to guide both the immediate evacuation and broader reforms in the waste management sector.

The Minister stressed that the government’s intervention would not end with the removal of the existing waste.

He said there was an urgent need to tackle the root causes of waste accumulation, improve community organisation and overhaul the country’s waste management system to prevent the problem from recurring.

He said the government was reviewing the entire waste management chain, including waste collection, transportation, treatment, recycling and final disposal.

Mr Ayariga also outlined plans to redevelop parts of Jamestown after the waste has been cleared.

He said the redevelopment would be undertaken without displacing residents, with government considering low-cost and high-rise housing options that would allow residents to remain close to their sources of livelihood.

The proposed redevelopment would also include improved roads, sanitation facilities and other basic infrastructure.

According to the Minister, the objective is not simply to clear the waste but to transform the area and create a more sustainable environment for residents.

Mr Ayariga further linked the sanitation challenge to public health, arguing that reducing the amount of waste in communities could help lower the resources spent treating illnesses associated with poor sanitation.

He said resources currently being used to deal with sanitation-related illnesses could instead be redirected towards prevention and improved sanitation systems.

The Minister disclosed that the Ministry of Defence has already constituted a support team for the exercise.

Further decisions on the deployment of national resources are expected following the return of President John Dramani Mahama from his international engagements.

Mr Ayariga said the government remained committed to mobilising national capacity and working with both public and private-sector institutions to address the sanitation challenge.

He also appealed to the public and the media to support the national sanitation agenda.

He encouraged residents to participate in the first-Saturday-of-the-month national cleanup exercise and, beyond the monthly exercise, maintain cleaner surroundings throughout the year.

The Minister said the broader objective was to demonstrate that Ghana has the capacity to confront longstanding sanitation problems while addressing the structural issues that continue to cause waste to accumulate.

The exact duration and scale of the Jamestown evacuation will depend on the ongoing technical assessment and the volume of waste established through the drone survey.