Works at the proposed modern Ngong waste management plant may be complicated by emerging claims that its site land was illegally acquired.
Politician Sankok Teeka claims the county government is planning to secretly move the Ngong dumpsite to Keek-Onyokie’s Vet Farmland in Kajiado North.
Speaking to the Star on Saturday morning, Teeka said the land identified by the county government belongs to the Keek-Onyokie community.
“The community gave the land to the colonial government for research works on livestock and we have also petitioned the same in Parliament to be returned to the owners,” Teeka said.
“No amount of intimidation from Kajiado Governor Joseph Lenku will cow our Keek-Onyokie people. That is our ancestral land and has no room for negotiation.”
He told Lenku to look for vacant plots elsewhere.
“What Lenku should look for are ways to use technology to recycle the waste in all county dumpsites. We have no space left that can be dished to the government,” Teeka said.
But Environment Chief Officer James Sankale said Teeka is mistaken “because the land was long allocated to Olkejuado County Council in 2007”.
“The council had all the legal documents for 20 acres that was allocated for purposes of building a new dumpsite. That land was later transferred to the county government under the devolved system,” Sankale said.
He clarified that the existing dumpsite at Ngong is going to be decommissioned, rehabilitated and modernised.
The Italian government is funding the modernisation of the new site at Sh2.1 billion to the international standards, the CO said.
“We have such modernised dumpsite only in Durban, South Africa. We are telling politicians like Teeka not to mix development and politics because it is like mixing water and oil, they will never rhyme,” he said.
But Teeka insisted the 20 acres hived out of the Vet Farm in Ngong was illegally acquired by Olkejuado County Council without the involvement of the community that donated the land.
In May, the county announced that Ngong residents would soon breathe clean air after the closure of its foul-smelling dumpsite.
The overflowing dumpster has for years caused air and water pollution, posing health risks to residents.
The foul smell emitted from the dumpster has been causing interruption of education in schools around it.
A human informal settlement that sprouted near it has also been accused of heightened insecurity in Ngong.
The progressive closure plan has been occasioned by a study commissioned by the government, the UN-Habitat and the county government.
The study identified the challenges of solid waste disposal as a priority problem for the county and through the National Treasury, requested the Italian government to finance the establishment of a waste energy plant.
The three-pronged waste management programme, according to Sankale, involves decommissioning and rehabilitation of the Ngong dumpsite, creation of a transition facility, and commissioning of an integrated waste management plant.
Sankale said a delay in funding has slowed down the process, which has prompted the county government to source for funds to commence decommissioning the dumpsite.
A notice directing individuals encroaching on lagoon areas and riparian reserves to vacate within 14 days was issued then.
The proposed project will include operational equipment to cost-effectively spread, grade, and cover solid wastes received by the landfill.
This means solid waste disposal operations at the existing disposal site at Ngong dumpsite will cease, Sankale said.
“The Ngong dumpsite has major negative environmental impacts on the local environment as a result of uncontrolled and open dumping. These environmental impacts make it necessary to decommission the dumpsite.”
The CO urged members of the public to review the environment and social impact assessment study report available for download on the Nema website and present their input within the allocated time frame.
Sankale said lack of drainage ditches, poor management, lack of effective implementation of relevant solid waste management regulations, and land-use conflicts are some of the major challenges facing the dumpsite.
Others, he said, are poor geographical location affecting Ngong town, an ineffective recycling process at the site, waste scavenging, and inadequate disposal facilities.
Edited by R.Wamochie