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General News of Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Source: citinewsroom.com
2019-07-30
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The quest for mining activities in respect of the environment should receive significant momentum towards the end of August 2019.
According to the Ministry of Lands, the US government has received $ 80 million to begin rehabilitating illegally mined sites across the country.
Sector Minister Kweku Asomah Cheremeh said his equipment required $ 200 million for the project.
The recovery process will involve the removal of toxic substances from the soil, the dredging of water bodies and, to the extent possible, the removal of pollutants to make the land useful again.
In 2017, the government launched a pilot recovery exercise at some Kyebi and Prestea mining sites in the eastern and western regions, respectively.
Data from the Ministry of Lands indicate that about 1.5% of the country's land area would have been degraded by illegal mining and other activities harmful to the environment.
This represents between 50,000 and 60,000 km 2 of some 238,000 km 2 of the country.
Addressing Citi News during a visit to some of the eastern region 's mining sites on Monday, July 29, 2019, the Minister of Lands said that an office had been created to the administration of the implementation of the rehabilitation exercise nationwide.
He said: "With the refurbishment, we have just opened an office and hope that by the end of August it will be completed. The Eastern Region is one of the areas in which exercise will take off. The western and Ashantian regions are part of these regions. "
"We received money for the project. Not all money is in place. We had requested $ 200 million for the project, but now we have $ 80 million and we have also received another $ 3 million package to set up the office. All of this is focused on creating jobs for our citizens, providing them with adequate livelihoods so that we can take our young people out of the mine pit, "added the Minister.
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