The Government of Guyana will be spending in excess of $60M to construct an all-weather access road to the Lusignan Landfill site to help ease the garbage problem caused by a fire at the main disposal facility on the East Bank of Demerara.
This is according to Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson. Speaking with Stabroek News yesterday Patterson explained that the road is right now a priority project since it is essential for the proper disposal of garbage from the East Coast, Georgetown and the East Bank.
He noted that the request for these funds was submitted to the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday but there has been no response as yet.
“We were able to squeeze in the request on the last financial day of the year but of course we haven’t yet received a response and I can’t say when we will have a response but it will be given the priority of an emergency,” Patterson said adding that once the funding is made available a decision will be taken about whether single sourcing or an emergency tender will be done to identify a contractor for the project.
He further explained that if the funding is not immediately available his ministry may be forced to utilise the equipment at its disposal to temporarily fix the road.
“We have to get it done properly because several heavy duty trucks will be using it but in the meantime we might have to use our machinery to see it graded down and accessible,” Patterson said.
Since December 21, the Lusignan landfill site has been receiving the majority of refuse generated in these three areas as a fire at the Haags Bosch site on the East Bank has rendered it inoperable.
The fire which began on Sunday December 20 continues to burn 11 days later despite efforts to quell it.
While the Haags Bosch site Manager Lloyd Stanton had told Stabroek News the fire was “no one’s fault” the government disagrees.
On Monday, Stanton, who is employed by the contractor BK International, had told Stabroek News that landfill fires are not unusual.
“They happen regularly because of biological activity such as decomposition which generates heat.
This activity plus readily available fuel that is landfill waste makes the site combustible. The most we can do is prevent oxygen from getting to the areas and work to efficiently douse any fires which may develop. It’s not anyone’s fault that a fire started,” he said.
However, on Tuesday a press release from the Ministry of Communities said that the contractor is “unable to extinguish the blaze, which started on the evening of Sunday, December 20, 2015…primarily because the contractor did not adhere to the Operations Management Requirements as stipulated under Section 15.6 of the signed agreement regarding fire prevention and firefighting.”
The Ministry noted that it was not surprised that a fire which has caused heavy grey smoke to pollute the atmosphere had developed. They charged that it was as a result of the burning of disposed unsorted waste caused by “poor management techniques and inadequate security measures, among others employed by the contractor.”
“The aforementioned factors together with the landfill not being vented and the failure to provide daily earth cover have contributed to the significant buildup of methane gas; which when ignited continues to burn in an uncontrollable manner,” the release noted.
In fact, the management of the Haags Bosch site is currently engaging the courts as the government of Guyana is appealing a ruling made by former Chief Justice acting Ian Chang that the termination of a contract awarded to BK International to construct and manage the Haags Bosch landfill site at Eccles was hasty and unfair.
Even as the government continues to work to remove a contractor they accuse of squatting both Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan and Minister of Public Infrastructure Patterson have assured that these legal proceedings will not affect the proper handling of this “emergency.”
Bulkan explained that the government is working with the contractor to create access to a second cell at the facility so as to allow for the creation of a temporary holding site for refuse from Georgetown and the East Bank.
Public health
While he could provide no information about the cost of this activity he noted that government is committed to making the resources available. “This is about public health and safety as well as not jeopardising the work that has gone into resuscitating Georgetown,” he said.
Patterson also explained that an emergency grouping including the Guyana Fire Service, the City Council, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority and the contractor has been mobilised to address the fire.
He noted that it is imperative that the fire be reduced to a manageable level before the site is reopened.
“There is presently thick smoke there so we have to seriously reduce that before we reopen the site and allow access to the holding cell,” he said.
Meanwhile, concerns are being raised by the contractor in charge of the Lusignan site about the volume of refuse the site is now being asked to cope with.
Kaleshwar Puran of Puran Brothers, which has a $1.4M monthly contract to manage the Lusignan Landfill, told Stabroek News yesterday that Lusignan usually handles about 100 tonnes of waste daily but it is now being asked to handle this amount plus the over 300 tonnes that Haags Bosch was handling.
When Stabroek News visited the Lusignan site there appeared to be an overflow of garbage at the area. Rain had made several parts of the site inaccessible so trucks were dumping refuse at the front of the site close to the access road as one bulldozer valiantly struggled to level the incoming refuse.
“We normally operate with one excavator and one bulldozer. We have made available one more excavator but it is not enough,” he said.
He added that his company would be able to make available additional resources if they were given clear instructions from the Ministry of Communities.
Included in those instructions are what equipment the Ministry itself is willing to make available; whether or not there would be an increase in the contract sum for the company and when the road will be repaired.
“That road is breaking up our vehicles. All of that is added expense,” Puran said.
City solid waste Director Walter Narine is also hoping for machinery. “The Ministry has a landfill compactor which was never made operational; if that were made operational it would greatly improve the amount of waste that can be processed daily. I expect that the compactor will be taken to Lusignan,” Narine said.
