Citizens of Georgetown adversely affected by the present state of the Mandela landfill site, which has overspilled into Le Repentir Cemetery can expect an end to their woes by the end of January, with the opening up of the Haag Bosch landfill site at Eccles. This assurance was given by Minister of Local Government Kellawan Lall during a media briefing at the ministry’s board room, Fort Street, Kingston, yesterday, when he addressed journalists on the issue, along with Minister of Public Works and Communication, Robeson Benn.
Minister Lall said that during a meeting held with President Bharrat Jagdeo and key stakeholders of the Haag Bosch site earlier yesterday, it was agreed that by the end of January, a cell located at Eccles, East Bank Demerara, will be opened up to allow for the dumping of garbage there, effectively bringing an end to the need for the situation as exists in Le Repentir. At a later stage, further cells will be opened in a phased manner.
The minister said that strenuous efforts are being made to ensure that the January opening of the Haag Bosch landfill site is on stream.
“We are committed to that. We have met the major players[who] are involved in the preparation of that site, with the involvement of His Excellency the President, and we are working towards that deadline,” Minister Lall assured.
He said President Jagdeo has outlined the national importance of the opening of Haag Bosch, in order to bring to a conclusion to what he (Lall) referred to as an ‘unfortunate episode’, occurring in the city and causing discomfort to quite a number of citizens in Georgetown. “We are all hoping that day will come very soon – within a matter of weeks, when we are going to put a closure to[the] Le Repentir site,” Lall said.
In an attempt to clarify the role that Central Government is playing in the current operations at Le Repentir , Minister Lall was at pains to outline that the assistance being provided by central government through the Ministry of Public Works and Communication will be paid for by central government. This clarification has become necessary, he said, since there seems to be some misconception along these lines, especially at the level of the Georgetown municipality.
Albeit, he stressed that central government continues to give assistance to the Council, both in terms of managing the site, and in providing resources; it is ‘not taking over’ the management of the dump site. “We want to make it very clear that the statutory responsibility for the dump site lies with the Solid Waste Department of the Georgetown City Council, and that remains,” Lall reiterated.
And calling on citizens for their involvement in the scheme of things, Minister Lall made a public appeal to citizens in and around the dump site area to desist from taking action that would stymie efforts currently being put in place to improve the condition of the location He said that his ministry and central government are there to help, but stressed that citizens’ cooperation in this regard, is vital.
Meanwhile, Minister Robeson Benn reiterated that the two ministries hosting the press conference are providing assistance in terms of the management and operations of the dump site. He recalled the unfortunate overspilling of garbage almost onto the road just a few days ago, due to inefficiency. The Minister however, assured that workers have been able to roll back the garbage ramp by close to 100 metres and are further pushing it back onto the dump where it should be..
Benn is optimistic that very soon, and before the January month-end deadline, the sanitation workers will be approaching Le Repentir dump from the Mandela Avenue end, so that material would be dumped from the eastern end, not using the cemetery road entrance as obtains at this time.
And touching on occupational health and safety, he expressed concern over the potential for industrial injury to the workers due to the presence of intruders ‘picking’ for rags, metal, copper, bottles and other materials in the garbage. “We are concerned that they are getting into the way of the machines and pose a safety and efficiency risk to the operators,” Minister Benn warned.
On plans for the further improvement of the physical appearance of the cemetery, the Works Minister said too that his ministry would be rebuilding portions of the road damaged during the operations in the cemetery over the last few weeks. Additionally, lights would be installed, allowing for illumination of the area when workers have to work at nights. He observed that working by night has become necessary, since there is less traffic to contend with than during the day.
