Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago today visited the KCCA manned Sanitary Landfill at Kiteezi on a fact finding mission, following a technical Report which amongst others proposed; Decommissioning Kiteezi and establishing a new Landfill – Dundu Mukono at a cost of Shs.26 Billion and Shs.190Billion respectively and/or, expanding the Kiteezi Landfill by acquiring more 2acres of land in addition to 4acres, for a continued operation of 2years at a total cost of Shs.5Billion.
The Lord Mayor expressed his dismay at the state of the Landfill which features ’mountains’ of Gabage at the site, yet a total of Shs.4.1B was spent for the FY 2023/24 in its operations. He observed that the 36acre Kiteezi Landfill has been reduced into an open dumpsite as opposed to its original ‘Land fill’ purpose, exposing the Public to significant health and safety risks.
During the fact finding tour of the Landfill, it was established that most of the equipments; Excavators, Bulldozers and Compactors are in poor mechanical conditions and yet hired at very exorbitant costs, the Leachate Treatment Plant is inoperational and the Weigh-Bridge is non-existent with Gabage delivered at the site left to estimations.
He stated that Kiteezi is a National challenge which requires concerted efforts by all stakeholders including Parliament and Cabinet to avert the looming disaster, and noted that it is environmentally disastrous to continue operating open dumpsites and relocating whenever it’s full as proposed with Kiteezi and Dundu sites.
Present during the visit were Members of the City Executive Committee, Members of the Public Health Committee of the Authority Council and Public Health Technical Team.
During an oversight visit to the facility on Thursday, 08 September 2022, Members of Parliament on the Committee on Climate Change were also disappointed with the state of the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) manned landfill in Kiteezi, Wakiso district on the outskirts of the capital, Kampala.
MPs learnt that the stench at times stretches to the surrounding towns of Kyanja and Gayaza. The landfill discourages economic activities in the neighbouring areas.
Kiteezi Landfill is the largest garbage dump in Uganda and all of East Africa where people live directly on and from the garbage in the Kiteezi garbage dump on the northern outskirts of Kampala, the country’s capital and metropolis of millions. Unlike in Europe, for example, the Kiteezi landfill is not located away from densely populated areas. The Kiteezi Landfill landfill is practically complete and very close to inhabited areas; some houses are less than 20 meters away from meter-high piles of rubbish. And the rubbish dump in Kiteezi is by no means a secured or even fenced in or locked rubbish dump.