Sri Lanka hails sanitary landfill funded by S. Korea

Saturday, 6 December 2014 00:12 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Yonhap: Sri Lanka’s first sanitary landfill funded by South Korea’s grant aid is a landmark project that will help ease environmental pollution in the Southwest Asian country and improve the quality of life for its people, the country Environment Minister said. After six years of construction, the integrated system of managing solid waste kicked off its operation on 27 November at Maligawatte in Dompe.

A sanitary landfill built with South Korea’s official development assistance in Dompe – Yonhap The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Seoul’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) body, injected $ 4.5 million into the project with the aim of mitigating environmental pollution and enhancing the quality of life for people in Dompe. A sanitary landfill refers to a facility which disposes of refuse by covering it with earth or chemical material in a way not to harm public health. The 20,000-square-meter landfill in Dompe has a capacity to manage 90 tons of solid waste per day, according to KOICA. “It is a paradigm shift,” Susil Premajayantha, Minister of Environment and Renewable Energy, told a group of South Korean reporters following a launch ceremony. “People here used to dump waste in open spaces. But from today, we are able to use the sanitary landfill to manage solid waste in this locality. This will be greatly helpful for the local government and people.” Premajayantha said that people in Dompe have suffered from a number of diseases as the practice of open dumping has polluted drinking water and resulted in other environmental pollution. “The central and local governments have to spend money to prevent such diseases from affecting people as a result of open dumping. Now, they can save the money and spend it for the development of other areas,” he added. Premajayantha said that at first, there was strong protest and resistance from residents living in the vicinity of the site against the construction as they were not fully aware of its merits. “Now there are no protests. They have come to know that they are beneficiaries of the project,” the minister said. After the end of a 27-year-long civil war in 2009, Sri Lanka has been ramping up efforts to revitalise its economy. Sri Lanka’s economy has grown at an average rate of 7% annually since the end of the civil war. The country’s Central Bank said that the $67 billion economy is widely expected to meet this year’s growth target of 7-8% and 8% for next year. Chang Won-sam, South Korean Ambassador to Sri Lanka, said that South Korea is a “perfect partner for sustainable development cooperation” as Colombo can share Seoul’s expertise in environmental protection that was learned through trial and error during its rapid economic development. “Development without considering the environment can be seen as nothing more than satisfying the current generation while neglecting and sacrificing the future generation,” Chang said in a speech at the ceremony. “On this note, I think that it is very wise for Sri Lanka’s government to carefully consider and incorporate environmental elements and aspects into its development process.” The Ambassador said that South Korea will remain committed to enhancing national development and improving the quality of life for the Sri Lankan people. Premajayantha also expressed hopes for further cooperation with KOICA over a range of environmental projects. “This is the first landfill project funded by KOICA. Four more similar types of (environmental) projects will start within a couple of months,” the Minister said, without elaborating. “Some projects are in the pipeline in some other areas.”