Expert offers solution to garbage crisis
Dr Colin Sentongo, a Special Advisor and Representative for Global Bridge Consulting Corporation in Vancouver Canada in East and Central Africa. PHOTO | PAUL ADUDE
What you need to know:
- Dr Sentongo expressed concern that very good professional reports are often shelved and never get implemented in government entities on grounds that there is no money.
The tragedy that befell the people of Kiteezi after a landfill collapsed and killed at least 30 people could have been avoided had government prioritized financing study reports that proposed incinerating the city garbage.
Dr Colin Sentongo, a special advisor and representative of the Global Bridge Consulting Corporation for East and Central Africa, said several companies had submitted reports to KCC, the forerunner of KCCA, expressing interest to incinerate the wastes at Kiteezi landfill, but the proposals were failed by financial challenges.
Kampala City Council (KCC) was transformed into Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) by an Act of Parliament in 2010.
Options to pick
Dr Sentongo, who spoke to this publication at his home in Kajjansi Town Council, Wakiso District, on Wednesday said the government should bail out entities that could be struggling financially to enable them implement critical projects like that of Kiteezi.
“KCCA has been clear that it doesn’t have money. This is where the government needs to come in and spend money on waste management because this is critical for our health and environment. Now that we have lost lives, heads must roll. Government should choose the best feasibility report based on its requirements and negotiate terms of financing it, other than shelving all of them,” he said.
Dr Sentongo added: “No one should deceive that they are going to do a feasibility study at Kiteezi and implement the report free of charge.”
Last week, Dr David Luyimbazi, the deputy executive director of KCCA, confessed that the authority lacks funds for decommissioning the Kiteezi landfill.
Mr Luyimbazi said KCCA plans to shut down the Kiteezi landfill and establish a new dumpsite at Ddundu in the neighbouring Mukono District, but the move has not been implemented because they authority failed to mobilise Shs6 required for the project.
But Dr Sentongo argued that since the government has always been able to secure funds to finance other activities, the money for waste management in the city should as well be secured.
Dr Sentongo expressed concern that very good professional reports are often shelved and never get implemented in government entities on grounds that there is no money.
He said a feasibility report that he submitted some 15 years ago to the then KCC with the intention of establishing the Kampala Refuse Waste Burning Power Plant project has not yet been responded to.
Dr Sentongo said the project in question was intended to address the rapidly growing problem of urban garbage collection and disposal and also help resolve the problem of inadequate power supply.
“We wanted to develop a 24 MW waste-to-energy power plant with a subsequent expansion to generate 40MW and related infrastructure projects in the city. The project was to be financed up to 85 percent by a 10-year soft loan provided by Exim Bank of India, with 15 percent to be covered by the government before commencement to show commitment,” he said.
Conceiving the project
Dr Sentongo said the idea of coming up with the Kampala Refuse Waste Burning Power Plant was triggered by an unpleasant smell that consistently irritated him whenever he paid a visit to some of his friends living around the Kiteezi area in 2009.
He said he then shared the project idea with Ms Jennifer Musisi , the then executive director of KCC, who showed excitement about the proposal.
Dr Sentongo said: “I then got in touch with my sister company, China Machinery and Equipment Corporation, based in Beijing, China. They fielded a team of seven professional experts in the field of waste management that came and worked at Kiteezi for seven days, submitted a report and went back.”
“It was not until 2011 that I was called and asked whether I could undertake a feasibility study. In June 2011, we wrote a feasibility study of waste-to-energy management and the report was submitted to KCC. They were excited and wanted to go and see what was happening in Beijing. We went with Nasser Ntenge Sebaggala, the late Mayor of Kampala, and spent 10 days in Beijing and Hong Kong touring incinerators, and waste-management companies,” he added.
Mr Sentongo said the KCC representative returned and briefed the team but he never got any official feedback from KCC, and the project stalled.
Cost of Kieezi landfill collapse
The huge garbage dump at Kiteezi in Kasangati Town Council, Wakiso District, which absorbs wastes from Kampala City, Mukono and Wakiso municipal and town councils collapsed on August 10.
The police have so far confirmed 30 bodies have been retrieved, with more than 14 victims rescued and several more feared buried under the sludge. Several livestock were also killed, and properties worth millions lost following the collapse of the landfill.
Mr Christopher Kyofatogabye, the State minister for Kampala Metropolitan Affairs, notified Parliament’s Committee on Presidential Affairs on Wednesday that the government needs Shs200b to organize a new dumping site in Ddundu.
