Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Sonia Parag revealed today that $400M has been set aside to upgrade the Haags Bosch Sanitary Landfill Facility, adding that systems will be put in place to deal with the foul odour emanating from the site and affected communities.
She made the foregoing known during a sitting of the Committee of Supply this morning, which examined over $23B allocated for her ministry. With respect to Programme: 134 – Local Government Development, $2.2B was allotted.
For that programme, Opposition Member of Parliament, Ganesh Mahipaul flagged the line item labeled “others”, noting that it moved from $878.6M in 2023 to $1.3B for 2024. Mahipaul asked Parag to state what portion of this sum is allocated to recurrent expenditure for the Haags Bosch landfill site.
“I must let you know that we are committed as a government to ensuring we develop landfill sites to ensure proper removal and disposal of garbage and we have committed about $400M for the Haags Bosch…,” the minister said. Guyana Standard understands that this reflects a $100M increase over 2023.
Mahipaul also asked what systems will be put in place to address the high stench that comes from the dumpsite, which continues to affect nearby communities. “We are building more cells as well as ensuring more operational systems are in place to deal with this,” Parag said. Notably, the minister did not expound on the specifics of those systems.
The opposition parliamentarian also questioned what other sites are catered for in the $2.2B allocation. Pasrag, “You would be happy to know that we are not lazy, and so 14 more are on board.”
Mahipaul said the committee was told last year that there were 13 existing sites, with six more up for construction. He reminded that this was catered for in the $876.6M allocation in 2023. He asked Parag to explain what prevented the full complement of six being added.
The minister said an assessment was done, and it was found that some locations earmarked were not suitable.
The programme allocation was then approved, following no further clarifications.
