KATHMANDU, MARCH 6
After breaching multiple deadlines to construct the sanitary landfill site at Banchare Danda in the bordering area of neighbouring Nuwakot and Dhading districts since its inception in 2007, the government has yet again set a new deadline to bring the much-awaited project by mid-April.
The Ministry for Urban Development has claimed that the much-hyped project has almost come into operation.
Construction of one out of two cells has already been completed and another cell will also be completed soon, as per the MoUD.
The MoUD had taken initiative to construct a 15-metre tall structure called cells at the landfill site following the Cabinet decision on 3 December 2018 to implement the Integrated Solid Waste Management Project.
Minister Ram Kumari Jhankri, who had also gone for official site-seeing at Banchare Danda a few days ago, directed the concerned authorities to complete the work within a month. The modern landfill site will manage a separate tank for collection of hazardous liquid that oozes from waste products.
Earlier, 11 urban development ministries that led this project had cast similar confidence since 2007 when the government acquired nearly 40 hectares land for the same.
The site is said to accommodate about three million cubic metres of garbage.
"With the completion of one cell, the sanitary landfill site will be ready to dump the waste right now," said Padma Kumar Mainali, director general of the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction. According to Mainali, the under-construction landfill site can hold the waste produced in Kathmandu valley for up to a maximum of 100 years if proper standards of waste management are followed. However, the landfill site can hold the waste of the valley for a maximum of 20 years if dumping is carried out in the existing manner.
According to the Department of Environment, around 60 per cent of waste collected in the valley is recyclable while 30 per cent can be reused.
Only 10 to 11 per cent of solid waste would actually require dumping in the landfill site if the waste was properly segregated.
Currently, the valley generates over 1,000 metric tonnes of waste every day. The collected trash - both degradable and non-degradable - is dumped at Sisdole landfill site in Okharpauwa of Nuwakot district, 26 km away from Kathmandu.
The Sisdol landfill site was initially used as a short-term (two years) landfill site to dump the waste of the valley in 2002. However, the Sisdole landfill site is the only option left for Kathmanduties although it maxed out its capacity some years ago.
Waste management in Kathmandu has become a new challenge due to rapid population growth and lack of civic sense among the public.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 7, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
