About 2 million residents of Conakry, the Guinean capital, can now live healthier lives owing to a partnership between the government and the Lives and Livelihoods Fund (LLF) to rid the city of solid waste.
The partnership provided 56 sanitation trucks to the National Agency for Public Hygiene and Sanitation (ANASP) to aid proper waste disposal in the poorest parts of the city.
At the ceremony to hand over the trucks, President Alpha Condé said that ”citizens could only contribute to Guinea’s development by the 2040 target date when they were healthy and lived in a healthy environment.”
Rapid urbanisation
Guinea has seen rapid urban population growth over the last 50 years, with the number of people living in urban areas rising from 16.6 percent in 1971 to 36.9 percent in 2020. That growth is projected to rise even further to about 50 percent of the population within the next 10 years.
In the rural areas however, nearly 80 percent of households still dispose of their solid waste in the open compared to 54 percent in the urban centers.
The rapid urbanisation has brought with it worsening living conditions, evident in flooding, contamination of water sources and other environmental and health challenges.
Through the LLF, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and other partners in the private sector and donor agencies help beneficiary countries to lift their most vulnerable population out of poverty by funding the provision of basic necessities.
“Access to safe and effective waste disposal is one such necessity that every person should have, which is why we are proud to be supporting the Conakry Sanitation Project and helping the city to tackle a challenge that will fundamentally improve the lives of some of its most disadvantaged citizens,” President of the IsDB, Dr. Bandar Hajjar said at the handover ceremony in Conakry.
Citizen ownership
The Conakry Sanitation Project will ensure access to a sustainable waste collection system and improve waste treatment at the public garbage dump.
Also, an estimated 1.7 million residents will be protected from flooding while the number of cases of malaria, diarrhea, schistosomiasis, and typhoid are predicted to drop by half in children under 5 years old.
The project is also creating hundreds of direct and indirect jobs.
The residents of Conakry were urged to take ownership of the project.
Ms. Kanny Diallo, Guinea’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development and the country’s representative on the IsDB Board of Governors, urged the residents and those responsible for managing the project to maintain the equipment efficiently “in order to restore Conakry’s image as the pearl of West Africa”.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
