The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) and the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation (SLLRDC) are on a collision course over garbage disposal, with the SLLRDC refusing to allow the local authority to dump non-recyclable garbage at the Kerawalapitiya dumpsite from July 1.
The move comes amidst a dispute between the CMC and SLLRDC with the latter insisting non-recyclable garbage should be transported to the Aruwakkalu Sanitary Landfill site in the Puttalam district. The CMC collects 200 metric tons of non-recyclable garbage daily. It pays the SLLRDC which functions under the Urban Development Authority Rs 3,000 per metric ton of garbage dumped at Kerawalapitiya.
According to officials at the local authority, the CMC has already signed an agreement with a private company that is constructing a waste to energy plant in Kerawalapitiya.
The project is expected to be completed in January next year, and the plant will take Colombo’s non recyclable waste free of charge once the plant is operational, senior officials at the CMC told the Sunday Observer.
Kerawalapitiya has been used as a dumping site following the collapse of the Meethotamulla garbage dump in April 2017, and after several other sites were rejected due to legal, environment and social issues. About 20 acres of the site is currently being used by the CMC.
With the SLLRDC shutting off the Kerawalapitiya site as a dumping ground from July 1, the Municipality trucks will have no place to dispose of its collections, which could give rise to a garbage collection delay, officials warned.
The SLLRDC expects the CMC to use the Arawakkalu landfill as a more permanent dumping site.
However, residents in and around the Aruwakkalu Sanitary Landfill site are protesting against the Government’s move to dump garbage there. Recently, a group of protesters forcefully stopped trucks of garbage from the Puttalam municipality that was taken to the site. -AW