The President of Hungary inspecting the Kumasi Waste Treatment Plant
As part of his state visit to Ghana, the President of Hungary, János Áder, on Saturday toured the Kumasi Wastewater Treatment Plant (KWTP) at Adagya in the Ashanti Region.
President Áder was in the company of his wife, the First Lady of Hungary, Anita Herzcheq.
The Hungarian President and his delegation which also included the Hungarian Ambassador to Ghana, Tamas Endre Feher, and the Managing Director (MD) of Pureco Kft, Bálint Kótay, were conducted around the facility by the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Mrs. Cecilia Abena Dapaah, and the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah and Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong of Jospong Group of Companies (JGC), initiators of the massive project.
The 1,000 cubic per day KWTP, a collaboration between Pureco Kft, a Hungarian private sector wastewater technology leader, and JGC, was commissioned last year by President Akufo-Addo.
The plant has the capacity to serve over two (2) million people in the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area in the Ashanti Region and can receive and treat 150 cesspit tanks of liquid waste trucks daily.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between JGC and Pureco Kft, as part of plans to replicate the wastewater treatment facility across the country.
The Executive Chairman of JGC, Dr. Siaw Agyepong, signed for his group, while the MD of Pureco Kft, Mr. Balint, initialled for his company, which was witnessed by Mrs. Dapaah and Hungary’s Ambassador to Ghana.
Mrs. Dapaah and Mr. Osei Mensah welcomed the Hungarian President and lauded him for his effort to help strengthen the diplomatic relations between Ghana and Hungary.
In his welcome address to their facility, Dr. Siaw Agyepong said “today marks a great milestone in Ghana-Hungary relationship as the Jospong Group of Companies has an opportunity, to welcome, His Excellency the President of Hungary, Mr. János Áder, who is on a state visit to Ghana, accompanied by his wife and an official delegation to the Kumasi Waste Water Treatment Plant.”
According to him, the strengthened business relationship between Ghana and Hungary has brought benefits to the private sector of both countries, “especially after the visit to Ghana in 2017 by the Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister of Hungary, Mr. Péter Szijjártó.”
“The Jospong Group of Companies took advantage of the new investment opportunity, opened between Ghana and Hungary, after Mr. Péter Szijjártó’s visit, to initiate a number of private sector business consultations with Hungarian private sector companies. In the course of our deliberations, we established key partnerships with Pureco Kft, ANY Security Printing Plc and the Hungarian Exim Bank,” he indicated.
“Mr. President, the outcome of one such technical consultation was the conclusion of a Memorandum of Understanding between Pureco Kft and Zoomlion Ghana Limited for the construction of the Kumasi Waste Water Treatment Plant. The plant, which Your Excellency is visiting today, was constructed by Pureco-Unit Consortium, a Hungarian private sector water and waste water technology leader. It is the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.
The JGC head gave the assurance that his outfit and its partners will ensure the remaining regions benefit from the project, adding that JGC has already commenced discussions to conclude an MoU with Pureco, saying “this is to enable the remaining 13 regions of Ghana, which have no access to waste water treatment plants, also to benefit from similar projects under Pureco-Jospong collaboration.”
He lauded the Akufo-Addo government for creating an enabling environment for players in the waste management space to partner the government for national development.
Earlier, the President of Hungary paid a courtesy call on Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, at the Manhyia Palace, Kumasi.
From I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi