HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, said yesterday that Cabinet is making interventions in the form of manpower, machinery and management based on evidence which suggests a failure of the current management at the Mandela Landfill Site.
Speaking at his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at the Office of the President, Luncheon said that other intercessions will be made to ensure that operations at the site are conducted in an efficient manner.
“The other short term interventions are cleansing the entire area of unsightly and improperly dumped garbage, the proper disposal at the dumpsite, and the preservation of access to the site by the garbage collection team,” he said.
He said that Cabinet has recognised that the interventions will increase the function of solid waste management at the facility for which additional resources will be provided by Central Government.
“The initial plan would see the administration providing manpower to collect the garbage strewn on access roads and passageways to the dumpsite,” the HPS said, adding, “Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Robeson Benn and Minister of Local Government Kellawan Lall were assigned responsibilities and given resources to so do.”
In addition, he divulged that the machinery provided will allow for the easy access to cell three at the site, which remains to be used for disposal of garbage.
“Minister Benn has indicated an intention of opening an eastern approach on Mandela Avenue to cell three,” he revealed.
Alluding to the opening date of the new landfill site at Haags Bosch, East Bank Demerara, the HPS said that it is the expectation that this site will be operational by the first quarter of 2011.
He said, “It does seem from the reports actually that meeting the January ‘drop dead date’ is questionable.”
He however noted that Central Government’s commitment to the Mandela site will not come to an end until the site at Haags Bosch is operational.
“We cannot revert to the situation yesterday when Government stepped in,” he declared. “The deployment of Central Government will last until the landfill is made at Haags Bosch.”
President Bharrat Jagdeo on Monday morning requested the Ministries of Local Government and Regional Development and Public Works to assist the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) of Georgetown in dealing with the issues surrounding the Mandela Landfill Site in Le Repentir Cemetery.