KINGSTON, Jamaica –The Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has blasted the government accusing the administration of being negligent where the recurring fires are the Riverton City Landfill are concerned.
Spokesman on Local Government and the Environment, Desmond McKenzie, Sunday afternoon said that government and the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) the agency responsible for managing the waste disposal site, have again failed the citizens of the Corporate Area.
“The frequency with which fires are breaking out at the landfill is not only disturbing, but distressing for persons affected by the smoke, the overhang of smog, and interruption in the ordinary course of business. The Government and the NSWMA have again failed to protect the citizens affected by these recurring dangers,” said McKenzie.
Dr Andrew Wheatley, who shadows the Environment portfolio, also expressed concern about the way the Riverton landfill facility is being managed and argued that the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) should play a more significant role in monitoring activities at the site.
“The ineffectiveness of the Ministry of Climate Change and the Environment has again been revealed. The Government must ensure that NEPA, the environmental regulator, enforces the standards for operation of the landfill, and holds the NSWMA accountable when it fails to meet those standards. This is especially important given the landfill’s closeness to the country’s largest population and economic centre, and the significant dislocation caused by fires like the one which has been blazing,” Dr Wheatley said.
“NEPA must begin to assert itself and play a key role in ensuring that the landfill is meeting required standards, and along with the Ministry of Health, must discharge its obligation to protect the health, safety and well-being of the public”, he added.
An early morning fire at the Riverton Landfill Sunday blanketed sections of the Capital city in thick, heavy smoke.
Meanwhile, McKenzie has called on the Government to provide the necessary resources to both the NSWMA and NEPA to ensure that the landfill is “properly monitored, managed and transformed ultimately into a green landfill”.
“Government’s failure to properly regulate and manage the landfill has continued in Jamaica for far too long. Affected residents and the rest of us as responsible citizens must demand better and refuse to accept such continued neglect of this very real problem,” McKenzie said.
