The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel A. Jinapor says his Ministry is going to insist on the concurrent reclamation and re-vegetation of Mined outlands by illegal miners.
He explained saying” This means that when you excavate, you will reclaim, you re-vegetate immediately before you move forward”
The Minister was of the view that it is a wrong arrangement by law for illegal miners to reclaim and re-vegetate the Lands within 30days after excavation which makes them leave behind a lot of lands degraded and move unto other areas.
The Minister said this when he visited a pilot mined-out land reclamation site at the Bosome Freho District in the Ashanti Region on 19th January 2022, to obtain firsthand information on the progress of work on reclaimed Lands and chart the way forward for the project.
He said this pilot reclamation site is clear evidence of the ramifications of the government’s reclamation policy touted since the assumption of the Akufo-Addo’s government.
Hon. Jinapor bemoaned the magnitude of the damage the actions of illegal miners have caused the country’s Lands and vegetative cover especially to the southern part of the country and pledged the government’s commitment to aggressively reclaim all degraded lands across the country.
The Minister opined that considering the capital-intensive nature of this project, the government would come up with intelligent ways to roll out this project and the Ministry has already started making arrangements to that effect.
” We will require a National Reclamation Fund to support the programme and at the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, we are beginning to interrogate the mechanism within which we can have this National Reclamation Fund”
The Minister also hinted that he will introduce a Community Mining Scheme in the Yapeesa Kokoben community where these lands have been reclaimed to ensure that the illegal Miners in the community get an alternative source of livelihood.
Mr. Jojoo Tibu Darko, Project Manager who briefed the Minister on progress made said the total work done at the reclamation site took them a duration of 4months to finish, adding that they embarked on a massive sensitization programme in the community before commencing the project. Engaging all the Chiefs and other opinion leaders and community members to educate them on the essence of the project.
He assured the Minister that after final discussions with the community to agree on which plants to grow and with the needed resources, they should be able to reclaim the entire landscape of about 393.8acres and hopefully commence revegetation by March this year.
