News
KMC meeting ends without solution to waste dump problem
The Gohagoda waste dump at Katugastota, in the Kandy Municipality has been in existence for the past 40 years. It is said the dump can no longer take in any more waste and is in danger of collapsing.
People living in the vicinity of the dump have been shifted out of the area to another locality within the municipality.
The problems posed by waste dump were taken up for discussion at a Special Meeting of the Kandy Municipal Council on a resolution presented by senior member of the council Vipula Ranasighe and seconded by former Mayor and present Leader of the Opposition S. Dissanayake.
Despite a six-hour-long discussion on the subject, the Council was unable to find common ground to settle the problem. Discussions focused on the problem of waste disposal and whether the contract for the disposal of waste should be handed back to the former tenderer, who had abandoned the project earlier and gone into litigation with the Council.
Mr. Kesara Senanayake, the Mayor of Kandy was completely opposed to the tender being re-awarded to the immediate-past tenderer. He claimed there was a Court ruling on the matter and added there was no letter from the past tenderer to say he had withdrawn from the project or that he was willing to come to an amicable solution with the Council.
At the end of the meeting, as the council was unable to come to an agreement, the Mayor agreed to set up a Committte to go into the pros and cons of the matter and report back to the Council.
It was also pointed out that people in the area had commenced agitating against the presence of the waste dump in that area.