The Mayor of Kanifing Municipality, Talib Ahmed Bensouda has vowed to address the perennial problems associated with the Bakoteh dumpsite.
Speaking at a press conference at his office Monday, Mayor Bensouda disclosed that his council has budgeted over D10 million for the perimeter fence of the site. This, he said would also prevent people from using it as a shortcut to get to the main road.
The press conference was sparked by a fire incident at the dumpsite Sunday, forcing members of the community to vacate their homes. Bensouda announced that an emergency meeting was held to discuss possible solutions to the problem of the dump site.
“The perimeter wall fence of the Bakoteh-dumpsite is going to be 6m height with barbwires on top to prevent people from scaling the wall. We all know that residents around the area are in the habit of using the site as shortcut to get to the main road,” he said.
The Mayor lamented hardships people around the site endure, adding that the municipality has planned a number of interventions including a perimeter wall which is in council’s 2020 budget.
“We also want to work with a waste processing partner in which eight interested partners have already applied to work with the KMC. We have already begun the process of how we can relocate a separate area where we can develop a sanitary land for,” he said.
He affirmed that they want to fast-track all their initiative, one of which, he said, is the fencing of the dumpsite and the introduction of the waste processing facility.
“It is not going to be easy to eradicate the issue of the Bakoteh-dumpsite because is never been done. We know that there is a problem of land availability as well,” he said.
Bensouda called on the government and the private sector for support to end the decades long problem of Bakoteh dumpsite.
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