Garbage Takes Over Paynesville Due To Landfill Inaccessibility

Next to the country’s capital, Monrovia, the second largest and biggest commercial city of Liberia, the City of Paynesvilleas continues to be overwhelmed with stockpiles of garbage with several risks being considered one of the dirtiest cities in the western region of Africa.

This is due to the collapse of the only aged bulldozer purchased in 2015, responsible for the spreading of garbage at the Wein Town Landfill.

The Landfill, located on the outskirts of Paynesville, in Bonard Farm, Telecom Community, was constructed by the government, through the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) the Emergency Monrovia Urban Sanitation (EMUS) project during the administration of former Liberian President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2012.

According to the report, the damaged bulldozer was procured by the World Bank in 2015 to be used at the Landfill for the leveling and pushing of waste at the facility.

The Paynesville City Corporation (PCC) and the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) are the two cities using the landfill to dispose of garbage, despite being managed by the Monrovia City Cooperation.

KMTV-Liberia, the investigation has revealed that the bulldozer assigned to the site has been grounded for more than a month now, making the site inaccessible to trucks loaded with garbage from the PCC.

Unlike the MCC, PCC has no solid waste transfer station to store waste in an emergency when there is a breakdown at the Wein Landfill.

“PCC is working but their hands are tied. They can’t continue to collect waste from the streets or city and there is nowhere for dumping.

The bulldozer that has endured its usefulness in Wein Town has been repaired more than ten times; it is yet unclear if it is even be used again.

The renting of heavy-duty equipment is not a long-term solution; New equipment should be procured and purchased.

It is a clear reality that cleaning and management of waste collection require a lot of money.

The construction of a waste transfer station is estimated at a little over US$500, 000,” a source who preferred not to be named told our reporter.

The source continued: “For now, there is nowhere to dump the garbage and low budgetary allocation cannot allow the PCC to construct stations like the MCC now.”

For months, our investigation has revealed that the World Bank-funded Cheesemanburg Landfill and Urban Sanitation (CLUS) project seems to favor the Monrovia City Cooperation over the City of Paynesville, with the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) of the project being hosted at the MCC.

Meanwhile, the Project Implementation Unit Coordinator Atty. Edwin Johnson has acknowledged the breakdown of the only bulldozer responsible to compiled the waste at the landfill.

He further acknowledged the financial challenges to purchase a new bulldozer and for the smooth operation and collection of waste in Monrovia and Paynesville Cities among others.

“PIU, which is responsible for the management of the Landfill for both cities, has not received funding from the Government for waste collection, and Landfill management since the beginning of this year”, he noted.