NATIONAL 2 -[SOLID WASTE MISMANAGEMENT (Spotlight Weekly)]

Capital's Shame

Almost a decade after it locked horns with the locals of Gokarna Dumping Site, the government is yet to find an alternative site

By A CORRESPONDENT

It's show time once again. The show time for both the central and local governments on how inefficient they have been on handling solid waste in the capital. In less than a week, uncollected garbages have piled up at almost every cross-roads in the capital spreading foul smell and increasing the risk of epidemics.

Gokarna landfill site : No more capacity

What went wrong? It's the same old story. The locals at Mulpani Village Development Committee did not allow the containers of the Kathmandu Municipal Corporation (KMC) to unload the garbage from the capital at the Gokarna Dumping Site.

They claim that the deadline they had agreed with the government some six months ago to allow the dumping of the capital's garbage has expired. The locals had to face police force late last week as the government forced its way to dump garbage at the dumping site being used for the last 20 years.

More than two dozen locals including Bharat Phuyal, Chairman of Mulpani Village Development Committee were detained by the police for almost a day. "We will still continue the protest," asserts Phuyal.

The locals closed down the site last sunday -- the day when the deadline to use the site ended. The government had reached into an agreement with the locals some six months ago to use Gokarna Dumping Site till mid February -- the time the government had assured them that it would come up with an alternative site.

After closing down the site several times since 1993 and having reached into agreements at different times with the government, the locals claim that the site has been over-used. The government too, after the latest agreement with the locals some six months ago, had acknowledged that the site has been over-used.

But, interestingly it has not yet been able to come up with an alternative site. Theoretically, the government has agreed with the idea of KMC to allow private sector for the recycling of garbage to produce organic fertilizer. Having invited proposals two years ago, the corporation has selected Sushil Vanaspati of Kedia Group from among the six applicants that included international bidders.

But, since 70 per cent of the solid waste comprises of organic materials, the remaining of the garbage and even the reject materials from the organic part needs to be disposed somewhere, experts say. That was the reason the government last year decided to prepare a landfill site at Syuchatar in the west of Kathmandu.

But, even there, according to Bhushan Tuladhar, a member of KMC's City Planning Commission, local people have already started opposing. Government officials say they will begin the Syuchatar site after three months. "Since the government has decided to use the area as a landfill site, it will do so no matter what," says Uday Raj Soti, Secretary at Ministry of Local Development. "We just cannot remain helpless due to the local protests."

In the quest for identifying new dumping or land-filling site, the government is facing double trouble. Syuchatar's local protest apart, the officialdom has already received cold shoulders from the locals of Sundarighat in the south west of the Valley. The site at Sundarighat in Lalitpur District Ward no. 4 was proposed for garbage composting.

"We will never allow any company to begin such project in and around Sundarighat," says Raghuji Panta, Main Opposition UML's MP who was elected to the House of Representatives from the same area. "No matter how much compensation they pay us, we will never agree to that."

Panta points at River Bagmati and the nearby human settlements as the immediate victim of the project. "No matter what technology they boast about, the fact remains that the garbage will be disposed off in that area and the locals are in no mind to accept that."

KMC, however, argues that the proposed piece of land was allocated for recycling of contaminated water for more than 20 years. "Since there already are ponds for the recycling of dirty waters in the east of the site and the Bagmati River in its south, the proposed factory will not do any harm to anyone.

At a time when the KMC is finding it hard to convince the locals at Sundarighat, the government, according to Soti, is considering to provide land nearby the Syuchataar landfill site for the composting of garbage. "Since there is nearly 150 roppanies of land nearby the site, we plan to provide them to the private sector for composting but on the condition that they should employ the locals there."

The idea, however, may prove to be a short-term measure only. Why? Even if the Syuchaatar site is brought into use, it can serve the purpose for only four years. Most of the sites experts have identified to-date as an alternative for Gokarna Landfill site are for short term only. Ramkot landfill site, yet another identified site, will serve the purpose for only one year -- if it is ever readied.

That is the reason why experts still stress on Okharpauwa landfill site in Nuwakot district in the north of Kathmandu. A 14 kilometer road to the site was built four years ago. But the site is not yet ready for operation. According to officials at Ministry of Local Development, the road has to be widened for the containers. "The roads that were readied three years ago have now been crumbled away by landslides," officials say.

And that alone explains how serious the government has been on managing the around 300 tonnes garbage the capital city produces everyday.

What actually will the private company do?

"It will make money from the garbage collected," say KMC officials. And how is that possible? "Solid waste management is more than dumping," clarifies Bhushan Tuladhar, a member of the KMC's City Planning Commission.

Mayor Sthapit : Groping for new site

In line with that theory, KMC has the plan to recycle the solid waste. With the technical support of Bombay based Excel Industries, the private company is expected to recycle a minimum of 300 tones of solid waste every day and produce 22,000 tone of organic fertilizer annually. Presently, Kathmandu produces 250 tones of garbage everyday and that of Lalitpur is around 50 tones. "The organic fertilizer thus produced will fetch good market here since there is a big demand for it."

Here is how the private company would process the garbage into compost fertilizer: The manufacturing company would first spray a substance called "Odor-off" on the solid waste to make it smell-free. What would follow is the transformation of the garbage into organic fertilizer within four to six weeks with the use of micro-germs called Cellrich. In common language, it is known as cellrich system.

The project, according to KMC's estimation, would require the capital of 100 million Rupees. Sushil Vanaspati along with the Indian industry has already agreed to make the investment. But KMC will have to do something in return. It will have to pay Sushil Vanaspati 50 Rupees for changing every tone of garbage into fertilizer, transport 300 tones of solid waste to the company's factory daily, and make available land with necessary infrastructure for the project.

The first two requirements, according to Tuladhar, are no problems for the KMC. But the private sector's demand for seven hectares of land to set up the factory and an additional three hectare for the collection of stones and sand -- the by products during the process of making organic fertilizer from garbage -- has become a hard nut to crack for both the central and the local government.