World Bank and FDA Award Uganda $600 Million for Waste and Infrastructure Development
…As landfill sites collapsed, killed 35 people
By FEMI AKINOLA
The world Bank and French Development Agency (AFD) have given Uganda nation more than $600 million to tackle waste and take care of insufficient infrastructure in the capital, Kampala.
Recall that last month, a garbage landslide at a landfill site on Kampala’s outskirts buried houses as residents slept, killing no fewer than 35 people.
Ugandans have complained about shoddy waste management and poor state of the roads in Kampala which suffers chronic underfunding from the central government led by President Yoweri Museveni.
A total of $566 million worth in funding, much of it credit, will come from the World Bank, and $42.7 million will be provided by AFD, the statement from the Uganda Government and World Bank disclosed. The World Bank said rapid urban expansion has exposed significant gaps in infrastructure in Uganda.
Last year, the World Bank said it would stop lending to Uganda after the East African country passed an anti-gay law. The World Bank noted that the ban over lending Uganda wasstill in effect but that the latest credit extended to the country was approved before the ban.
Mpererwe landfill in Kampala is the only landfill in the nation’s capital and it is currently facing significant environmental and sustainability chllenges. The landfill is not well located as it is close to a residential areas, about 200 metres away, and cattle farms. It is also located upstrem of a wetland.
The landfill site receives solid waste from the city of Kampala and generates nuisance like bad odour. There is scattering of waste on the site by scavenger birds, flies and vermin.
Industrial and hospital wastes are disposed at the landfill without pre=treatment. The concentration of variables (nutrients, bacteriological indicators (BOD) and heavy metals) in the lechate were higher than those recommended in the National Environment Standards for Discharge of Effluent into Water and Land.
