Governor Chukwuma Soludo-led government in Anambra State has announced the imposition of new sanitation levies on residents across the state including rural communities.
The Managing Director of Anambra State Waste Management Agency, Mr. Mike Ozoemena, said this on Monday, adding that the taxes must be paid by every resident of the state including those in rural communities.
According to Ozoemena, implementation and enforcement of the levies took off on October 1st this year, Daily Sun reports.
The Managing Director explained that the levies became imperative due to the fact that the government would procure and fuel more waste collection trucks for waste disposal, adding that more waste bins would also be procured and placed at strategic locations across the state for effective waste collection and management.
He noted that the new levies had been classified according to local government areas which fall under rural, semi-urban and urban categories.
The waste management agency boss explained that local government areas under urban category include Awka South, Onitsha North, Onitsha South, Aguata, Nnewi North, Idemili North and Ogbaru.
For semi-urban category, the local government areas include Njikoka, Idemili South, Ihiala, Awka North, Oyi, Orumba North, Orumba South, Anaocha, Nnewi South, Dunukofia, and Anambra East, while Ayamelum, Anambra West and Ekwusigo local government areas fall under rural category.
Based on the categories, Ozoemena said that for residential buildings in the rural areas, the rate for a duplex was fixed for N12,000; in semi-urban N18,000 and N24,000 for urban areas annually.
Also, the annual rate for detached bungalows in the rural areas was fixed at the sum of N6,000; semi-urban is N9000 while N12,000 is for the urban areas.
In a further breakdown of the levies, residents living in 2-3 bedroom flats in rural areas will pay N3,600; those in semi-urban areas will pay N5,400 while those in urban areas will pay N7,200 annually.
For residents living in a one-bedroom flat in rural areas, the annual rate is N2,400, semi-urban areas N3,600 and urban areas N4,800; while those living in a one-room in rural areas will pay N1,200, semi-urban areas N1,800 for and urban N2,400.