Story: Fauziatu Adam
A two-year grace period has been allowed on the ban on second-hand refrigerators effective January l, 2011 to December 31, 2012.
During this period, all traders and importers of second-hand refrigeration equipment will be registered and licensed after which import quotas will be issued to some selected importers to bring them into the country in controlled quantities.
The Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Mrs Sherry Ayitey, said this in a speech read on her behalf at a day's workshop for second-hand refrigerator dealers at the Environmental Protection Agency Training School at Amasaman.
She added that littering of the city with discarded unserviceable refrigerators was of much concern to the ministry.
" You will agree with me that the cost of cleaning up the mess would have been borne by the tax payer, consequently we have to support measures and the efforts of the Energy Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stop the importation of these junks that have outlived their usefulness in their countries of origin," she said.
The Executive Director of the Energy Commission, Dr Alfred Ofosu-Ahenkora, explained that $6.3 million was needed to implement the programme for the three-year period that it was scheduled to last but sponsors had so far released only $2.7 million.
He said the commission had submitted some documentation to the Global Environment Facility of the United States, the main sponsor of the programme, and added that by the end of the year, money would be released for the commencement of the policy.
The policy includes an incentive package for people who will replace their old refrigerators and buy five-star rated refrigerators for a fee yet to be decided by the commission and relevant stakeholders.
The move will ensure that all electrical gadgets, particularly refrigerators, air-conditioners, microwave ovens and washing machines, imported into the country have the five-star label on them.
The sponsors include the Multi Lateral Fund of Canada, the Global Energy Fund and the Government of Ghana.
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