Leaving the best laid plans to go waste

by Nalaka Godahewa

The breaking news at the dawn of New Year was about another disaster. This time it was about the collapse of the Meethotamulla garbage dump, destroying a large number of houses and claiming innocent lives. The citizens in this area have been raising alarm bells about the impending dangers for a number of years and most vociferously during the last few months. But unfortunately they all fell on the deaf ears of the authorities.  

 It is true that successive governments have failed to implement a solution for this serious problem. No one can escape total blame. 

However, it is also important to know that by the end of 2014 a Government approved project was ready to clear the Meeethotamulla garbage mountain within three years. Rs. 10 billion was allocated for this purpose in the Budget that was presented in Parliament in November 2014.

“….As solid waste management in the Greater Colombo area is equally an important priority to ensure proper sanitation and a healthy living environment, I propose to allocate Rs. 10,000 million over 2015-17 to complete this initiative parallel with other urban development programs in the Greater Colombo area to the relevant implementing agencies,” (Section 41.1 of the budget speech of 2014).

"Even the best laid plans become absolutely useless in the hands of poor implementers. Perhaps the challenge for the Government now is to implement the solution that was already planned"

In that case someone has to take responsibility for further delays in implementing the proposed solution. If authorities acted responsibly this disaster could have been avoided.

Garbage collection and disposal is usually the responsibility of the municipality council of any city. The largest city in Sri Lanka is Colombo, which generates about 700 tonnes of garbage every day.

The traditional method of garbage disposal adopted by Colombo Municipality Council is to dump the garbage in an area identified as a landfill. At the Bloemendhal and Sedawatte areas we can still see some of the old garbage dumping sites. Currently most of the garbage collected from Colombo and the suburbs is dumped at the Meethotamulla dumping site. According to the current estimates around 700 tonnes of waste is produced by greater Colombo on a daily basis, which rises up to 1,200 tonnes when the Colombo suburbs are also added. All these end up at a few dumping sites. The Meethotamulla garbage mountain towered some 200 ft high a few weeks ago and that was the main reason for the recent collapse of the garbage mountain.

The landfills are known health hazards to the nearby communities due to the emission of toxic gases and the negative impact it has on the groundwater table. According to a survey conducted by the Women's Movement for Freedom sometime back more than 90% of residents in the Meethotamulla area are exposed to virulent diseases including dengue, malaria and other gastrointestinal infections.

Once the war ended in 2009, former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa assumed additional responsibilities as the Secretary to the Ministry of Urban Development. He went out of the way to assist the Colombo Municipality Council to find solutions to the garbage collection problems that were prevailing at that time. His voluntary involvement brought better discipline to the garbage collection process and within the next few years Colombo emerged as one of the cleanest cities in Asia. However, garbage disposal still remained a problem and a challenge. During the 2013-2014 period the World Bank joined the UDA to seek a better solution for the garbage disposal problem. The solutions used by various other countries were studied as a result.

The study revealed that solutions such as incineration or waste-to-energy conversion were not practical given the large volumes and the composition of the garbage. The recommendation was to look for a distant site where sanitary dumping could be arranged as in the case of many developed countries. As opposed to open dumps, which are hazardous to the environment, sanitary landfills are a more organised and safer way of waste management.

14 August 2014 Cabinet decision on Municipal Solid Waste Disposal System for Metro Colombo Region.

The next challenge was to identify a suitable location to create a sanitary landfill with sufficient capacity to accommodate not only the newly collected garbage but also the millions of tonnes of existing garbage at various sites in Colombo and the suburbs. This was by no means an easy task.  

Finally a site was identified in Aruakkalu in the Puttalam District for this purpose. The 30-hectare Aruakkalu site has many abandoned quarries, from where limestone had been extracted some 20 years ago. The craters are large enough to accommodate not only the existing garbage that needed to be cleared from the city but also the future demand for several decades.

An Environmental Impact Assessment was carried out and the sanitary dumping project was planned as per international standards with the assistance of the World Bank.

The proposal was to clear the existing garbage mountains in the city first. Thereafter the Meethotamulla site was to be used only as a transit point, which would accommodate the day’s collection of the city garbage. This would have been a far better solution for the residents than the current situation.

To educate the residents of both Aruakkalu and Meethotamulla the World Bank arranged study tours to South Korea. The residents were shown the sanitary landfills as well as the transit dumping sites. There was no major objection from the residents for this proposal of the Government.

The plan was to transport waste by train to the landfill site at Aruwakkalu about 170 kilometres away from Colombo. There was a need for the extension of railway lines to the two sites at Meethotamulla and Aruwakkalu. Special 20 foot containers were to be ordered and equipment was needed for sorting and packing the compacted waste. All these expenses were costed and an amount of $ 107 million, which is equivalent to about Rs. 14 billion, was approved by the Cabinet on 14 August 2014. This was also incorporated into the Budget that followed.

Even the best laid plans become absolutely useless in the hands of poor implementers. Perhaps the challenge for the Government now is to implement the solution that was already planned.

“You have to do the right thing... You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result,” said Mahatama Gandhi.

Source: Nalaka Godahewa's post in his personal Facebook account.