Issued Tuesday 28 March 2017
Stakeholders
on Saturday validated a five-year waste management plan for 2017 to 2021, at a
three-day workshop organised by the Kanifing Municipal Council in collaboration
with the Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources, Fisheries
and the Environment, as well as the Ministry of Health.
Representatives
of the communities of Manjai Kunda and Bakoteh attended the meeting.
Speaking
at the closing of the validation workshop, Jaja Cham, representing the Chief
Executive Officer, said the purpose of the workshop was to validate the fourth
draft document that was made toward the end of 2015.
The
document emanated from the council’s five-year development plan, and they are
validating the document known as the five-year waste management plan of the
Kanifing Municipal Council.
“We
are responsible of policy matters at the level of council, and we are ready to
support the administration to make sure that this document does not gather
dust, and we hope that with the intervention of donors the problem of gabbage
collection within the municipality would be addressed sooner or later.”
There
have been many undesirable developments at the Bakoteh dump site, and this
document has come to address what is happening at that dump site, Mr Cham said.
Kebba
Sanyang, a development management consultant working with KMC, said waste is so
complex that one needs to start developing a plan and perspective on how to
deal with it.
He
said in the process of the consultancy, they organized a workshop for the
community and brought people from all the wards and institutions dealing with
waste management.
“There
is a waste management committee, and the draft has to go through all expert
agencies, NEA, ministries and departments and NGOS to look at the document.”
