…says they knew about plans for Haag Bosch
PRESIDENT Jagdeo has accused the opposition of using the issue of the garbage pile- up opportunistically, knowing that plans were in train to close the Mandela dump and open a state-of-the art facility within a matter of days. Speaking at a press conference at the Office of the President on Monday, President Jagdeo sounded his ire at the attempts being made to politicise the issue.
The President said that when all these years the people in Georgetown had been suffering from the dumpsite, “people don’t go to the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor or the councillors,” noting that they are the ones who run the city.
“They are supposed to pick up the garbage, they are supposed to fix the drains and roads, and drain the city. If you look over the years, every road in the city is fixed by the government. We put in stop lights. We are now taking care of pumps…hundreds of millions [being spent]. We pay to collect garbage too…some of it,” he said.
“We have been doing all of this and now we are investing US$13 million in a new site. Everyone knows that by the end of this month the site will be ready to accept garbage from the city and from other areas and that we will close the dumpsite at Mandela,” President Jagdeo pointed out.
He noted the Mandela dump has been in operation “long before we got into office, and we are going to shut it down, restore it, restore the cemetery, because this is something that we want to do and the new site will be a modern state-of-the art one.
“So we are working on this and the people who went and protested there knew that we are working on this. [They knew] that a year now we awarded a contract to build a new site and that it will be ready by the end of this month. They politicise it [so that] they will get credit when we move [to Haag Bosch], when [all along] that was the plan, to move at the end of the month,” he said.
With the commencement of operations at the new site, citizens of Georgetown adversely affected by the present state of the Mandela landfill site, which had recently overspilled into the Le Repentir Cemetery, can expect an end to their woes, according to Minister of Local Government, Kellawan Lall.
At a previous forum, President Jagdeo had outlined the national importance of the opening of Haag Bosch, in order to bring to a conclusion what Lall referred to as an ‘unfortunate episode’ occurring in the city and causing discomfort to quite a number of citizens.
Minister Lall was at pains some weeks ago to explain that the assistance being provided by central government through the Ministry of Public Works and Communication will be paid for by central government. He clarified the role that central government is playing in the current operations at Le Repentir, saying that this clarification has become necessary, since, according to him, there seems to be some misconception along these lines, especially at the level of the Georgetown municipality.