In November last Village Voice News reported that the landfill site in New Amsterdam Region 6 (East/Berbice /Corentyne) was rapidly becoming a source of distress for the Mayor and Town Council of the town and its residents.
Since then and to date no action was taken by the Ministry of Local Government which is in charge of the contract and as the pictures taken earlier today shows, the situation has worsened considerably since then.
Councilor in the Municipality Kirk Fraser recalled that under the previous Administration, a $25M contract was awarded to Cevon’s Waste Management for 18 months to manage the site. However when the new administration took office the contract ended and a new one was awarded to Vals Construction valued at $48.3M for an 18-month period.
“We asked to see a contract to see exactly what the contractor has to do, to date the Ministry has not provided us with one, neither the contractor. “What has been happening all along is that the waste is dumped on the surface and remains on the surface and this practice has continued unabated to the extent that today January 3 2022, overflowing garbage has effectively blocked the entrance to the dumpsite”
The Town Council remains stymied in its assessment and response to this project because although the land at the Esplanade belongs to the Municipality and the Municipality was a major stakeholder, Central Government had made and continues to make no information available to the Council.
“This apparently is how the Government is saying Happy New year to the people of the town of New Amsterdam,” he said.
