County govt stops dumping at VOK estate, relocates site to Mwakirunge

Two boys walk past a dumpsite in VOK, Mombasa, on December 22, 2018. PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • County’s communication director Richard Chacha said the county government was looking for quarries to dump garbage.

  • Mombasa County government stops dumping of waste at the VOK estate.

Mombasa County government has stopped the dumping of waste at the VOK estate.

County’s communication director Richard Chacha said garbage will now be dumped at the Mwakirunge dumpsite.

“We stopped dumping at VOK. We are moving the garbage that had been dumped (at the site) to Mwakirunge,” said Mr Chacha.

He, however, said the county government was also looking for quarries to dump garbage.

“We are still negotiating with some quarry owners so that we can dump garbage there since Mwakirunge is a temporary site,” said Mr Chacha who observed that other people had been dumping waste at the VOK estate at night.

THROW GARBAGE

“Some people throw garbage at the VOK estate at night. We will ensure that we remove the garbage the same way we did at Kibarani,” said Mr Chacha.

VOK residents have been complaining about the fast growing dumpsite.

National Environment Management Authority (Nema) Mombasa boss Stephen Wambua said the authority has engaged the county government on the dumping garbage at VOK Estate.

“We are aware of the issue. We have written to the county government to stop further dumping of waste, remove all the garbage and to ensure no burning of waste at VOK.”

DEPLOYED TRUCKS

“We wrote to them in December when we realised that there was a problem,” said Mr Wambua.

The Nema boss said the county government had since deployed trucks to remove the garbage.

“We have been in talks with the county, we are aware that they deployed trucks to remove the waste,” he said.

Last year, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority rejected the relocation of the dumpsite to Mwakirunge saying the area is on a flight path.