Talib
Ahmed Bensouda, the mayor of Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) has vowed to
address the perennial problems associated with the Bakoteh dumpsite, which he
said doesn’t only serve as an eyesore but a national problem.
Mayor
Bensouda disclosed that the council has budgeted over D10 million earmarked for
the perimeter fence of the site. This, he said would also prevent people from
using it as a shortcut to get to the main road.
Mr.
Bensouda was speaking during a press conference held at the KMC on Monday to
discuss the Bakoteh-dumpsite fire incident which occurred on Sunday.
The
press confab came following a blaze that occurred at the dumpsite on Sunday,
forcing residents living around east side to vacate.
Bensouda
indicated that they’ve had an emergency meeting to discuss the solutions
regarding the issue of the Bakoteh dumpsite.
“The
perimeter wall fence of the Bakoteh dumpsite is going to be 6 meters high with
barbwires on top to prevent people from scaling the wall. We all know that
residents around the area are in the habit of using the site as shortcut to get
to the main road,” he said.
He
lamented the scale of hardship people around the site endure, saying that KMC
has planned a number of interventions including a perimeter wall which is in
council’s 2020 budget.
“We
also want to work with a waste processing partner in which eight interested
partners have already applied to work with the KMC. We have already begun the
process of how we can relocate a separate area where we can develop a sanitary
land for,” he said.
He
affirmed that they want to fast-track all their initiatives, one of which, he
said is the fencing of the dumpsite and the introduction of the waste
processing facility.
“It
is not going to be easy to eradicate the issue of the Bakoteh dumpsite because
it’s never been done. We know that there is a problem of land availability as
well,” he said.
The
KMC mayor thus called for the support of everyone, both government and private
sector to end the decades long problem of Bakoteh dumpsite once and for all.
