If you passed by the city’s dumpsite by mile two and a half on the Western Highway today you would have noticed that the garbage is almost by the roadside and access into the main entrance was also blocked. Also noticeable was that the bulldozer used to push back all the waste was on the property but the equipment was not working. In the meantime the Belize City Council which manages the dumpsite has had to reopen the old entrance so vehicles can access the back of the dumpsite to dispose garbage. Today we caught up with the always available councillor in charge of sanitation Philip Willoughby to find out if once again the garbage has gotten out of control. Councillor Willoughby told us that the pile up was created due to equipment failure
Phillip Willoughby, City Councillor for Sanitation
“Whenever these equipments go down the cost to get it back up to function and operate one hundred percent fully costs us. The cost of fuel, what it is right now, the human resources and personnel to regular and run the dumpsite costs the council and we are saying look at what we are trying to achieve through
the new fees that will be instituted shortly for the disposal of waste at the dumpsite as well as the collection of your commercial garbage to have us, facilitate us to run and operate the dumpsite. It ought to be run as prescribed and guided by the Solid Waste Management Authority and the Disposal Act but we are saying look at what is happening, understand the rationale for the fees and cooperate and work with the council.
But currently we are using this as the entrance which is the old entrance to gain access to the rear of the dumpsite to dispose of the waste. That is all that is happening here and anybody can do a feasibility and come out here and look and see what it takes to run and operate this dump site. Look at it wholistically and what it costs and then seen the rationale behind and the justification for the fees and we are not lying.
The part for the tractavator should be in, it is being ordered through Gentrac from Florida, I was made to understand, and the part should be in by weekend’s end and the tractavator should be up and running and if we need assistance from any contractor we will utilize their services.
To the discretion of the council to use this as an entrance is something on the table we need to look at to gain access to the rear or do we use the current entrance to the dumpsite. But to my mind, we will resume back using the main entrance and close off this alternate entrance to the dumpsite.”
According to Councillor Willoughby it will cost them just over five thousand dollars to get the bulldozer working which he believes will be done by the weekend. Depending on just how fast the cleanup is done at the main entrance, they will continue to use the alternate route.
