Mombasa County government has ordered closure of all illegal dumping sites in the coastal city in the next seven days.
Issuing the orders, Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir said that the landfills were to be used as transfer sites, but because of lack of order they ended up turning out to be garbage sites.
Nassir who was accompanied by his deputy Francis Thoya led a team of county officials in a clearing exercise of the illegal Manyimbo cemetery dumpsite on Friday.
“We have also suspended all charges on trucks, tuktuks and mkokoteni taking garbage to the Mwakirunge dumpsite and all the remaining transfer points.”
It is such charges that tempt people to litter everywhere, this will no longer be a reason to make the city dirty,” said Nassir.
The governor added that henceforth transfers will be done directly to trucks saying the general public will be informed in the course of the week on where to take their garbage.
To clear the existing garbage, Nassir said that they had deployed a total of 40 trucks to undertake the exercise.
“The trucks will be stationed at designated sites to be communicated soon to the public in all the 30 wards in Mombasa. We shall also deploy ant-dumping officers in all the illegal landfills closed to ensure the enforcement of the new directive,” he said.
He however stated that the county will continue engaging in public participation to ensure that the public and all waste collectors are fully aware of the new changes.
The governor said that the county government was working towards informing the public of the solid waste management act that he said will be fully implemented in Mombasa.
“We have to achieve our agenda for a cleaner Mombasa, these changes must be felt within the next 100 days,” added the County boss.
The governor also said that the county shall undertake a construction audit to ensure that all buildings have a bio digester to treat their sewage before being released to the ocean.
He also promised to fast-track the issuance of construction permits to take less than 72 hours to streamline the sector even as they crackdown on illegal sewage connected to the county’s storm-water system.
According to a UN Habitat Assessment Report of 2019 in conjunction with the county, Mombasa produces about 1,000 tons of solid waste everyday with the county only managing to collect 60 per cent of it.
The remaining 40 per cent he said finds itself on the streets and illegal dumpsites all the way to the ocean with some even blocking manholes for the storm water system in the county.
Plastic waste according to the report comprises of 9 per cent whereby only half of it is processed for recycling.
By Mohamed Hassan
