Gonzales: Police to guard Forres Park dump

PUBLIC Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales said on Friday the police will be engaged to guard the Forres Park landfill against unscrupulous garbage-collectors illegally dumping rubbish there.

He was answering questions from fellow MPs as the Standing Finance Committee of the House of Representatives did a line-by-line examination of the budget 2024's allocation to his ministry of $2.8 billion.

Pointe-a-Pierre MP David Lee asked about a $1.5 million allocation for Forres Park landfill, after $2 million was utilised last year.

"We have spoken before about the landfill at Forres Park, especially with the burning, and the smoke and the environment and issues for the residents, not only for me but for my colleague from Tabaquite (MP Anita Haynes)."

He asked if the allocation was adequate to fix that perennial problem.

Gonzales replied, "It is to decommission the Forres Park landfill, as we are doing in the Beetham and Guanapo. SWMCOL is moving towards the establishment of an engineered landfill in the Forres Park area."

He said the allocation queried by Lee was to be used to complete the environmental impact assessment (EIA) study, by next April/May, after which a design will be done for a new, engineered landfill at Forres Park.

The EIA will follow a recent waste characterisation study, which is a critical input towards the design of the engineered landfill.

Lee asked when the existing landfill would be decommissioned and replaced.

Gonzales said the engineered landfill will be started in 2025.

Lee asked Gonzales to arrange for the area at the entrance outside the current landfill, near Claxton Bay. to be cleaned up.

Gonzales said this problem was not caused by SWMCOL.

"Some of these garbage collectors, they are very deviant and they engage in activities that, as far as I'm concerned, (mean) their contracts should be terminated.

"They deliberately dump their garbage on that road leading to the landfill, for all kinds of reasons."

He said SWMCOL has taken up the issue with the local regional corporation which had engaged these contractors, but nothing has been done about it.

"So we intend to ramp up security arrangements on that road leading to the landfill so we can identify those responsible – garbage-collectors – so appropriate action can be taken against them. It is very unfortunate that these people who are contracted by the State could engage in that kind of activity."

St Augustine MP Khadijah Ameen remarked, "The same applies to the (Heights of) Guanapo dump, that Dump Road there.

"But there's also a bigger issue there. There are members of the public who engage in scavenging as a way of making money, and that also contributes to the problem."

She asked exactly how Gonzales intended to beef up security around dumps like Forres Park.

Gonzales replied, "We are working with the national police on this particular matter."

He said SWMCOL is incorporated under the Companies Act, not by an act of Parliament.

"SWMCOL does not have the statutory authority to take action."

Gonzales said Cabinet was considering a policy document for an act of Parliament to incorporate SWMCOL and give it statutory authority to act against such culprits.

"In the meantime we intend to consider utilising camera technology to be able to detect some of these contractors who are engaged in these types of unfortunate and illegal activities.

"The best we can do right now is to rely on the national security police to help us police these activities and ensure we can mitigate at least some of these unfortunate incidents that have been taking place at our landfills."