MONROVIA- Waste disposal site remains a major challenge to adequate waste management in Liberia, as operators at various disposal sites have laid out challenges ranging from limited space to the unavailability of reliable sites for solid waste management.
The Cheesemanburg Landfill Urban Sanitation (CLUS) Project is financed by the Liberia Reconstruction Trust Fund (LRTF) and the GPRBF Result-Based Financing (RBF) to be administrated by the World Bank.
The Development Objective of this operation is to provide improved access to solid waste management (SWM) services in Greater Monrovia.
The main beneficiaries are the residents of Monrovia and Paynesville and the project is to improve solid waste collection and disposal at the new Cheesemanburg landfill, as well as the closure of the existing landfill at Whein Town, reducing the risk of environmental and health impacts at the site.
Overall, these residents benefit from a healthier, cleaner, and more resilient urban environment.
The Project also sustains existing employment associated with solid waste collection, transportation, and disposal.
Additional people benefit from temporary employment opportunities resulting from the construction of the Cheesemanburg landfill and the closure of the Whein Town sanitary landfill.
The original grant component finance technical studies and preparation for the tender documents for the new Cheesemanburg landfill; the construction of the first cell of the Cheesemanburg landfill and related facilities (leachate pond, landfill office, maintenance area, water supply boreholes, and extension of the access road) to benefit the Cheesemanburg community.
It also targets the partial closure and construction of a perimeter wall around the Whein Town landfill to continue to operate in an environmentally safe manner before the Cheesemanburg landfill.
In the distant future, there will be a permanent closure of the Whein Townsite once the Cheesemanburg landfill becomes fully operational;
Besides, there is minor rehabilitation and upgrade work to the existing transfer stations.
Ongoing, Little over seven months the project was out of a resident project coordinator.
Having recruited a new project coordinator CLUS project and Team sees the need to visit various solid waste management sites in Monrovia and its environs led by the Incoming Project Coordinator of the Chessemanburg Landfill and Urban Sanitation Project, Edwin D. Johnson.
The new Project Coordinator and his Team observed that limited space and expiration of the tenure of some waste disposal sites was a leading factor to poor solid waste management across Montserrado.
Mr. Johnson and the team had toured the Fiamah Transfer Station, Whein Town Sanitary Landfill, and Stockton Creek Transfer Station to identify possible means of putting in place a proper solid waste management system, that will curb the situation of stockpile garbage found around the cities, as the population grows.
Liberia is not yet practicing a proper primary waste collection from home to the wider population as municipal governments are still strategizing means of enforcing task collections at various homes for waste disposal.
Besides, Whein Town is the only Landfill in Montserrado and it cannot contain the current population since it was set up for a set population in 2012 and was expected to close in 2017, a five-year project, however, it was revisited and it is expected to end in 2023.
In most cases withholding centers are mostly affected by overstayed stockpile garbage, due to delay in collection, owing to limited equipment in places like Paynesville and others.
The Team visit identified series of challenges, ranging from threats posed by some Transfer Stations to the environment as wells as the Whein Town Landfill, ranging from health to environmental pollution.
Moreover, Mr. Johnson added that the visit also identifies other challenges that are impeding the smooth operation of the various sites, to identify potential risks associated with service delivery, to review and understand the existing structural arrangements ( Operational and Administrative) and challenges face on a daily basis at various sites.
“Among sites visited were; First upon arrival at the Fiamah Transfer Station in Sinkor, Johnson and his entourage were greeted by the manager and local workers of that station,” Mr. Johnson told FrontPageAfrica over the weekend.
During his brief interaction with the Fiamah Transfer Manager Prince Wiah, the CLUS Project Incoming Project Coordinator, Mr. Jonson he is concern about how they can work together in addressing some of the challenges faced at the site.
Equipment, Leachate water, transportation, and others.
He at the same time encouraged workers at the site to continue working hard as a way of making Major Jefferson Kojiee Proud.
Johnson then promised to work with everyone to improve the site and other areas.
For his part, the site Manager of Fiamah Transfer Station, Prince Wiah welcomed the visiting Team and pointed to get waste at the final disposing site on time as a major problem impeding the smooth operation of his site.
“Our major challenge is the final disposal site. We find it very difficult for our trucks to go in and dump and at times, technical problems give us hard time,” Wiah lamented.
In the countries that practice standardize waste management, there are alternate routes, specifically used by waste management vehicles from Withholding Center, Transfer Station to Landfill or Disposal sites.
Others like Liberia collect waste to disposal sites only during the night, due to limited road connectivity.
He at the same time said during the rain season, it is difficult to collect water, because it spends a long time at the withholding site before being collected, other than the usual two days collections down by them.
Waste is useful and not wasteful, and wastes are rarely separated
in Liberia.
As such those that are found, biodegradable decompose, reusable, recycled, and toxic waste are all mixed, which could be another major factor affecting the solid waste management system in Liberia.
At the Whein Town Sanitary Landfill which is being used as the biggest disposal site in Montserrado County, the Landfill Manager (Wesley Mamulu) raised concern over the current lifespan of the site, initially it was planned to be closed down, in 2017.
It was extended to be completed for 2022 based upon other challenges the project construction site is expected to be completed by 2023.
However, Mamulu said there is no other LandFill across Montserrado, even though Whein Town lacks the proper space to contain waste from the current population.
Mamulu expressed hope that another site is set up to backup the Whein Town Landfill.
Following the visit at Whein Town, the CLUS Project Incoming Project Coordinator took off backward to visit the Monrovia City Cooperation facility at Stockton Creek Transfer Station.
Upon his arrival at Stockton Creek, he spent several minutes interacting with the Site Manager and workers, and other officials, directing them on how they could help make the area looks good.
Meanwhile, Mr. Johnson has however assured the public that work is being carried out to ensure that Liberia reach an appreciable benchmark in proper solid waste management that will make waste useful to citizens, then being a threat and lamented that the new management will ensure that most of the challenges be minimized as he consults with the
Mayor and seek advice from developing partners.
Meanwhile, Mr. Johnson has however assured the public that work is being carried out to ensure that Liberia reaches an appreciable benchmark in proper solid waste management that will make waste useful to citizens, then being a threat.
