Residents of Bartica and its environs recently benefited from the Local Government Ministry’s ‘Clean-up my Country’ campaign which saw large quantities of bulk waste being removed from the area.
The objective of this initiative was to remove waste dumped illegally alongside roadways and other areas and bulk waste from households during the festive season. The team also focused on removing garbage from along the Bartica Waterfront and public spaces, as was done under the Community Sanitation and Improvement Programme, a press release said.
According to Bramhanand Singh, National clean-up programme taken to Bartica, environs
Special Projects Officer attached to the ministry, “a team of 17 persons removed numerous garbage piles from First Avenue to Seventh Avenue between Monday 22 and Tuesday 23, December.” The team also removed debris from the river and public spaces. Residents were also given an opportunity to discard household bulk waste free of cost which will be disposed of at the landfill site on the Bartica/Potaro One Mile Road.
In an invited comment, Chairman of the Bartica Interim Management Committee Ovid Benjamin said residents are very pleased with the programme, though he noted that the administration is concerned that some have continued the “awful” practice of indiscriminate dumping. Some even pay destitute persons meagre sums to dump their waste at illegal sites.
Benjamin said a new landfill site is being constructed to serve the community and once this has been completed and is operable, the issue of illegal dumping will be alleviated. After several meetings with the Regional Democratic Council and the Bartica IMC, Region Seven Cuyuni/Mazaruni, government has offered to provide assistance for the construction of the landfill site under the national Clean-up programme. Currently government is awaiting a proposal from the solid waste disposal company, General Sanitation Enterprise on the project.
