Local Government Minister Kellawan Lall yesterday said that concerns raised about the safety and conformity of the Haags Bosch landfill facility, which is to be opened next year, are unfounded.
Deputy Mayor Robert Williams yesterday expressed concern with regard to the adherence to standards of the leaching works at the facility. But Lall said that “the leaching plant and entire operation are being built to specifications of the EPA”.
Speaking yesterday at the Mayor and City Council’s statutory meeting, Williams also raised concerns that “any further delay [in the opening of Haags Bosch] could be to the detriment of citizens’ health”. The facility is set to be opened next year.
The Mandela Landfill is said to be taking in some 20 tonnes of garbage per day and with only one cell currently operating, the options are to create a new cell or pile the garbage higher.
Deputy Solid Waste Director Ishrie Ratan described the situation at the Mandela Landfill as “very bad and at a crisis”. He explained that two bulldozers are needed to heap the garbage higher. Mayor Hamilton Green, after hearing this, ordered the acting Town Clerk to write letters to the Local Government and Health ministries. He told her the letters should out outline that the council was “unable, physically and financially to maintain with integrity [the Mandela site] and is asking for government’s urgent attention”.
Meanwhile, when contacted yesterday Lall said that he was unaware of Williams’ concerns since he had never raised them but stressed that the new landfill site leaching plan is not threatening to the environment.
However, he pointed out that he was aware of the dire state of the Mandela Landfill site and said he was “hoping” it holds until the Haags Bosch site’s January opening. In the meantime, “they’ll have to continue to make space,” at the Mandela site, Lall added.
Lall pointed out that the contract for the new landfill facility runs until the end of the year. He said the M&CC had requested that one cell be opened at Haags Bosch to ease the situation at Mandela, but added that this was up to the contractors and if they could finish the cell in time.
The official opening remains set for next year.
A $9,729,822 contract was awarded to BK International in association with Puran Brothers Disposal Service in November 2009 for the construction of the landfill site.
The contract for Haags Bosch Sanitary Landfill stipulated a construction period of 12 months and an operation period of 10 years. It is designed to take in the waste of the entire Region Four – from Soesdyke to Mahaica – which amounts to nearly half of the population’s waste. The site will be operated by BK and Puran Bros and will be protected.
