Mikaili Sseppuya
31 December 2008
Kampala — KAMPALA City Council (KCC) is looking for alternative means of garbage treatment and use.
"It has, therefore, called for consultants to send in their bids to offer this service.
"We want the consultants to provide us with alternatives to solve the garbage problem. We want to turn garbage into a profitable venture. Besides, the residents near our garbage dumping site in Kiteezi in Wakiso have for long complained about the stench and polluting the area," Herbert Ssemakula, the KCC spokesman, said in an interview on Tuesday.
"The city population keeps on increasing and so does the amount of garbage they produce.
"We need to get new ways to treat garbage," he said.
Kiteezi residents have been clashing with KCC, saying toxi liquids from the garbage were contaminating their water.
Recently, KCC signed an agreement with an American firm, Cobal-USA, to turn the waste into power.
"The pre-agreement between KCC and Cobal-USA will see the building of an energy plant."
Garbage is one of the biggest problems facing KCC. The city authorities, however, claim that lack of funds contribute to their inability to collect the rubbish timely. There are about six private firms licenced by KCC to collect garbage.
Each household in Kampala generates one tonnes of garbage annually.
City residents however say the scheme to have residents pay for removal of their garbage was not adequately studied as many residents were unconvinced of the value of the service saying it only benefited the bigger institutions.
KCC has also made several ingenious attempts to have the problem solved including an agreement of sorts with a firm that was going to burn it up to provide power to the city.
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