$10 M contract awarded to clear Kara Kara dumpsite access road

            The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development has awarded a $10 M contract to clear access road leading to the Kara Kara dumpsite, which over the last few months was overflowing with solid waste and this negatively impacted the tourism potential of the Kara Kara blue lakes and its environs. The contract was awarded to Concrete Inc, and the project includes clearing the roadway leading to the dumpsite that was overflowing with huge piles of garbage and compressing the area all the way to the site.

The project is being monitored by the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) and Regional Executive Officer Dwight John, said it also includes closing off the Dakoura dumpsite, which was used as an alternative dumping ground in Linden but because of environmental concerns, it is no longer safe to dump there.

In a Facebook post, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Nigel Dharamlall  said, “Linden Town, Region 10, we have taken on an enormous responsibility to clean up this country…..work of this magnitude has begun at the dumpsite in Linden.”

Mayor of Linden Waneka Arrindell, encouraged residents to dump responsibly at the site, since it is open to the public. “When dumping at the dumpsite, dispose of garbage in a proper manner, we have to be more careful on what we do and how we do it, while the dumpsite is opened to the general public, we are really asking that you go into the dumpsite and offload anything you have”, she expressed. Dumpers were of the habit of offloading their garbage on the access road, rather than directly in the dumpsite, which resulted in the huge pile recently. Meanwhile REO John said that the officials are actively looking for another location that can be transformed into a modern landfill. In the interim, efforts will be made to continuously keep the Kara Kara dumpsite environmentally friendly.

Last October, tourism bodies were up in arms with the local authorities for allowing the garbage situation to spiral out of control at Kara Kara, given the damage it was causing to the image of the Kara Kara Blue Lake, which is one of Linden’s hottest tourism spots.