Refereed Journals

About 20 million PET plastic bottles are thrown out each day without recycle, polluting the environment as it stays in the soils and water bodies for over 300years. This paper therefore seeks to compare PET plastic bricks with some commonly used materials for wall construction in Ghana (Cement blocks and compressed earth blocks) in an attempt to obtain another AWM.

In sub-Saharan Africa, one of the barriers to development and wealth creation in the peri urban and rural areas is land tenure insecurity. This is mainly due to a number of factors including the absence of clear unambiguous boundaries between allodial owners and the absence of credible documentation of land rights. This research sought to establish and document over 190 km of the boundary of Juaben paramouncy in a manner that ensured peace, harmony and tenure security. Disputes were resolved through less costly Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms and Customary Land Secretariat (CLS) that catalogued and maintained up to date register on the land. This resulted in conflicts that have raged on for decades, sometimes leading to injury, property destruction and loss of lives come to an end. The benefits of this improved land tenure security are enhanced agricultural productivity, wealth creation for rural dwellers, peace and stability. Boundary demarcations and documentations established were important steps in the process of reformation and improving land tenure security in the rural communities. Information retrieval was simplified and transaction cost made cheaper.

Globally, the management of solid waste has become a great challenge, but this is even more so in developing countries. Solid waste, predominantly those generated in medium and large urban centers, has become a huge challenge to manage.

In this project, Geographic Information System (GIS) was used as a tool to analyze, represent and interpret mortality data on maps. GIS was used to display the leading causes of death, patients’ proximity to the hospitals, mortality distribution per the types and the differences of the mortality distribution for the various sub metros in the Kumasi Metropolis to give clearer understanding of the death statistics.

The findings revealed that absence of planned maintenance policy and improper maintenance, pressure on facilities vis-à-vis age of the buildings cause elements of building such as doors, windows, ceilings, cables etc. in deplorable state. In conclusion, ways to mitigate the situation such as the introduction of sustainable maintenance policy, introduction of innovative building system, the use of quality materials and professionals for maintenance among others were suggested for sustainable housing provision.