Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, March 7:

The long-awaited Sisdole landfill site will finally come into operation by the end of this month, officials at the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) said today. The landfill site is being constructed with Japanese assistance as a pilot project. The site will collect garbage from Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Kirtipur municipalities. An engineer at the Environment Department of the KMC, Kiran Ulak, said that the landfill site will be brought to operation by the end of March. He was addressing a public hearing on solid waste management organised by the KMC and Clean Kathmandu Valley Studies, a JICA-funded programme on solid waste management.

Four months ago ex-Local Development Minister Yubraj Gyawali had announced that the Sisdole landfill site would be operated from January 1. Ulak said along with the construction of physical infrastructure, multi-lateral contracts among the user municipalities will have to be signed that will include clause on cost sharing. Due to lack of proper landfill site, KMC and the Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City have been dumping garbage along the banks of Bagmati river for the past four years. The Ministry of Local Development has not been able to provide proper landfill sites despite the apex court’s ruling for the same. Rajesh Manandhar, chief, Solid Waste Section at KMC, said a modern ramp is being constructed at Teku Transfer Station, where garbage is collected and sent to the dumping sites.