City dumpster down down

Normal, Papua
Source:

By JEFFREY ELAPA

SEVERE damage to one of the city’s waste removal vehicles caused by illegal settlers at the Baruni dump two weeks ago resulted in rubbish piling up in some Moresby Northwest suburbs in the past week.
Contractor and managing director of Holden Best Waste Ltd, the company contracted by City Hall to do this job, Felix Handa’an revealed last week in response to complaints by Gerehu 3A residents that their rubbish had not been collected for almost one month.
He said settlers living near the dump had cut the air pressure tube of the compactor on Nov 10, effectively making the vehicle useless to load rubbish.
Handa’an said his company was responsible for rubbish collection twice a week but after the “sabotage” to the vehicle, they were not able to collect the rubbish for one week and not four weeks as claimed by residents.
He said he was equally concerned about the health risks posed by decomposing rubbish and had engaged several private dump trucks to collect and dispose of the rubbish last week.
Handa’an said the damage to the truck had been reported to Gerehu police, who were investigating.
He apologised to the residents who had been affected.
Handa’an also said  City Hall should pay contractors more so that they could afford to buy more dump trucks.
He called on NCD Governor Powes Parkop to consider increasing the rates and the contract agreements because there was none in place at the moment.
Handa’an also urged the governor to remove the Baruni dump settlers as this was not the first time they had caused damage to a vehicle that was unoading at the dump.