Refuse disposal overwhelms Lilongwe City Council
The Lilongwe City Council (LCC) has admitted that it is failing to sustainably manage refuse in the city due to lack of proper equipment.
Speaking in an interview with The Nation on Friday, LCC director of health and social welfare services Vito Mulula said the council is in dire need of an excavator, a D7 caterpillar machine or a bulldozer and compactors to service its dump site and suburbs around the city.
Said Mulula: “What is happening is not the best practice at all. Ideally, we need to have an excavator and several compactors to create trenches, compact the refuse and bury it so as to avoid stench, proliferation of flies and the risk of waterborne diseases.”
He doubted that the council may secure the much-needed equipment any time soon owing to poor funding as well as inadequate revenue generation.
“On our own, we cannot afford to purchase these machines as they are very expensive. An excavator, for instance, costs over K325 million. However, every three months we do hire such equipment from [Plant and Vehicle Hire Organisation] PVHO and some private operators to clear our dumpsite as well as service the locations,” said Mulula.
In his remarks, Lilongwe City mayor Willie Chapondera said the council has received two 10-tonne second hand compactors from well-wishers in Glasgow, Scotland.
He also disclosed that the council is facing pressure to relocate its landfill located about eight kilometres from the central business district.
LCC has over 29 hectares reserved for the landfill and currently only five hectares is in use.
Currently, LCC is implementing a climate change project funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) aimed at rehabilitating the dump site by creating an access road, infrastructure offices and a weighbridge so that it becomes a model sanitary landfill.
