Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography 111(2) 169 Beyond technical details: The stalled Kwabenya Engineered Sanitary Landill Project in Accra, Ghana Abstract The development of a modern, sustainable system of waste manage- ment in developing countries is frequently delayed (and in some cases stalled) by causes that cannot be directly attributed to technical or economic reasons. One such project is the Kwabenya Engineered Sanitary Landill Project which was conceived in 1991. This paper examines why the project was not actualized though the technical details and inancial component were duly secured. Using mainly a qualitative research method, the study revealed that the authority’s poor governance practices spelt the doom of the project. Neither were the direct occupants of the land consulted during the project formulation stage nor were the host community’s fear of environ- mental reprisals addressed. This paper maintains that successful implementation of projects like a landill demands the collective participation and acceptability of all stakeholders. Key words Engineered sanitary landill, conlict, urban governance, Accra, Ghana. Martin Oteng-Ababio, Urban Disaster Risk Reduction Programme, Department of Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana E-mail: moababio@yahoo.com, moababio@ug.edu.gh Geograisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography 111(2):169-179, 2011 Martin Oteng-Ababio Introduction One segment of urban governance that has attracted lim- ited attention in most African countries is acquisition (or lack) of safe waste disposal sites and in some cases, the conlicts associated with such acquisitions. This is in spite of the fact that most of these countries are fraught with vul- nerability to socio-economic shocks and have the highest urbanisation rate in the world, with more people living in urban settlements in Africa than in all of Western Europe or North America (UN-Habitat, 2006). This poses daunting environmental challenge in view of the alarming rate waste is changing both in quantities and composition (Ali et al., 2005). In Sub-Sahara Africa, the challenge inds expres- sion in situations where the assemblies’ limited internally generated revenue is expended on waste collection and transportation while uncontrolled (crude) dumping appears to be oficially endorsed. In a few instances where attempts have been initiated to construct engineered sanitary land- ills, they have been thwarted by public hostility towards the location of unwanted land use (LULU), possibly due to poor urban governance (see Feitelson, 2001; Davies, 2003; Ishizaka & Tanaka, 2003; Shmueli, 2008). This tends to create the perception that safe disposal of solid waste is beyond the capacity of many municipal authorities. In Ghana, crude dumping of solid waste had been the order of the day until 2004 (Post, 1999; Oteng-Ababio, 2010a). After 54 years of independence, Ghana achieved a major landmark in solid waste management (SWM) prac- tices by moving from open dumpsites to engineered landill sites in 2004 when two of such facilities were opened in Kumasi and Tamale. A third facility, proposed for Sekondi- Takoradi, is yet to be completed while that for Accra at Kwabenya has stalled. This is against the back drop that the National Environmental Sanitation Policy (MLGRD, 1999) afirms that safe waste disposal is an important component of environmental sanitation and sustainability, and offers opportunities for income generation, health improvements and reduced vulnerability. The policy further enjoins all local authorities to acquire suficient land and secure title with payment of due compensation for its immediate and future use. Various reasons have been adduced for local au- thorities’ inability to attain this policy objective, including the lack of appropriate capacity (Ali et al., 2005), poor in-