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Worms of a dirt deal
CMC pays millions for a company to turn garbage into compost – but it never took place
By Asif Fuard
The dirt war between the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) and Burns Trading (Pvt) Ltd is deepening amidst allegations that the company is not converting garbage into compost in terms of the agreement, though it has received millions of rupees in payment.

CMC officials said the company’s failure to convert the garbage into compost had led to the piling up of garbage mountains in Colombo’s Bloemendhal area where the air stinks and causes health problems to the people.

They said that at several meetings the CMC had with Burns, the issue was taken up, but the company had not given a clear-cut answer. The dispute at times had caused delays in the disposal of garbage at the Bloemendhal dump.
The Sunday Times learns that in terms of the contract, the company is required to convert garbage into compost. But since the contract came into effect, the company has not operated its compost plant at Sedawatte, the CMC officials claimed.

It is learnt that Burns had sought the expertise of Onyx, a multinational environmental company, since it was the first time a garbage converting operation was to be undertaken in Sri Lanka. But the local company was unable to strike a deal with Onyx because of the company was facing a financial crisis.

As a result, the company’s Sedawatte plant remains idle. The company apparently does not want to start work at the plant because it feels the high operational costs will erode into its profits, according to CMC sources.
The Sunday Times learns that the Bloemendhal garbage dump had a roofing cover which protected the dump from rain and ensured that the area did not get flooded. The roofing cover collapsed in May 2003 when a mini cyclone hit the area.

Todate, the company has not restored the roofing cover. As a result, the garbage dump area gets flooded and becomes water logged during the rainy season.

Responding to allegations, Burns Chairman Lal Wijeratne told The Sunday Times that the Sedawatte compost plant could not be started because the company was not getting the minimum required amount of garbage – at least 80 percent of the plant’s capacity – to run it efficiently.“If we get that required amount of solid waste we will be able to start our compost plant.
But the CMC is providing us with only 40% of the solid waste,” he said.Burns has been at the centre stage of a controversy over the garbage collection and the ownership of the garbage dump.

The Sunday Times on May 15 revealed that the Bloemendhal land was obtained under questionable circumstances. The Land had been acquired by the Land Reclamation and Development Corporation (LRDC) in May 5, 1995 for a greater Colombo flood retention programme.

While the 20-acre plot at Bloemendhal was in possession of the LRDC, Burns had signed an agreement with the CMC to dump the city garbage at the site from January 1, 2001.

LRDC officials said that despite objections and letters written to the CMC regarding the illegal garbage dumping, no action was taken by the CMC.
However the LRDC handed back the land to its owners on June 1, 2001 since the land couldn’t serve its original purpose of flood retention. By then Burns had obtained a large portion of the land through questionable transactions.

Mayor faces the music
Colombo Mayor Prasanna Gunawardena is being questioned by the Auditor General for the payment of Rs. 316 million to Burns. The payment was made for the company’s services from May 2003 to April 2005 in spite of claims that the company had not honoured its contractual obligations.

Some councillors alleged they had taken up the payment to Burns at several CMC meetings, but the mayor had sidestepped the issue. They also alleged that the whole thing was a big scam involving several councillors and the underworld.

At a recent meeting with the CMC, Burns Chairman Lal Wijeratne claimed that he had to pay the thugs in the area from the money the CMC paid his company.

CMC may revoke contract
By Vanessa Sridharan
Municipal commissioner Dr. Jayantha Liyanage is studying the possibility of cancelling the contract with Burns Trading (Pvt) Ltd and calling for fresh tenders, since the company has not honoured its contractual obligations.
“The garbage issue is a serious problem. According to the contract the company is required to collect and dispose the garbage and the municipality will make the payment at the end of the month but the company has failed to convert garbage into compost.

So I refused to make the payment and took the matter to courts. Eventually we came to a settlement and paid Burns 12 million rupees for a job it didn’t do,” Dr. Liyanage said. He said the best solution to the crisis was to dissolve the contract and go for fresh tenders.

The commissioner said the company’s claim that it could not start its Sedawatte plant due to insufficient garbage was untenable because the company had been accepting our garbage for a long time. He said he believed that one of the reasons for the company’s inability to start the plant was the plant’s electricity supply had been cut because of non-payment of bills.

The commissioner said the council would only pay the company for the acceptance of the garbage but not for converting garbage into compost –an operation that never took place.

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