-closed section back in operation
Now that the fire at the Mandela landfill has been extinguished, plans are being made to reopen a section to accommodate more garbage until the scheduled opening of the Haags Bosch facility next year.
On Thursday, a government engineer said the fire had been put out and that the site is open and dumping can resume. However, North East La Penitence residents are not impressed; they are looking forward to the day the site is closed.
The fire was said to have started some time around 5.30am on Tuesday by three persons who still remain unknown. Team work between the local government and works ministries, the Mayor and City Council, the Guyana Fire Service and Puran Brothers Disposal resulted in the fire being extinguished. The teams worked throughout the night under flood lights to extinguish the flames, since the fire started, and a shower of rain aided their efforts.
North East La Penitence resident Alison Scott said she was relieved that the fire was extinguished so quickly. “When it used to start up first we had to go and spend time by some family,” Scott said of previous fires at the site. She also recalled having to take her eldest son, who is asthmatic, for medical treatment due to the intense smoke. However, she noted, this time around “They work whole night and the rain help.”
Though residents are grateful that the fire is out, some believe that it was deliberately set. One resident who gave his name as Mr Earl told this newspaper that he believed that the fire was deliberately started to create more space for dumping. “I want to know is what they building?” he said, pointing to the towering heap of garbage that was bathed in flood lights. He also said he was not happy that plans have been made to raise the garbage a few more meters.
A solution to the overflowing landfill will see the closed cell two being put back into use. A government engineer explained that between cells one and two, a two-metre void exists for more garbage. This space will be used until the new landfill at Haags Bosch on the East Bank opens.
Haags Bosch is scheduled to be opened on January 15. Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green had made a request to have a cell opened in October but this was pushed back to its official January opening.
