KATHMANDU, JUNE 15

Minister of Urban Development Ram Kumari Jhakri has claimed that the government is working on the landfill site at Bancharedanda on the border of Nuwakot and Dhading districts in a way to fully operationalise it by mid-July.

Responding to the queries on waste management crisis in Kathmandu valley raised by lawmakers at the Federal Parliament today, she said, 'The landfill site will come into full operation no later than mid-July for scientific waste management.'

Minister Jhakri also admitted that the authorities concerned and stakeholders had failed to convince the general public about their duty in waste management.

'We could not make it clear that the urban dwellers are themselves the managers of the waste they produce. Had we succeeded in convincing the public about it, each household would have tried their best to produce least quantity of waste from their kitchens. Waste should have been segregated from the kitchen. If we can do so, around 80 per cent of the garbage should not be transported to the landfill site for disposal,' she suggested.

'The construction landfill site at Bancharedanda should be been completed and come into operation long before.

But it could not be realised due to various problems. We are now all set to fully operationalise it by mid-July,' Minister Jhakri added.

Contract for the construction of the new landfill site was awarded to Lumbini-Koshi and Neupane JV to complete construction work within a year (5 May 2019), but in vain.

The contract price was estimated at Rs 346.8 million. The contractor failed to complete construction work even within the revised work schedule of 7 January 2020. Later, the delay was blamed on the COVID-19 pandemic. After the new landfill site comes into operation, the government will close down the old landfill site at Sisdole of Nuwakot.

The valley produces an average of 1,045 metric tonne garbage daily. Kathmandu alone produces daily waste of 516 metric tonnes. Waste generated in 18 municipalities of the valley except Bhaktapur are disposed of in Sisdole landfill site.

A version of this article appears in the print on June 16, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.