Economy

Nakuru dump gives residents sleepless nights

nakuru

Gioto, the dumpsite that is blocking roads and pollutes heavily. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Nakuru government says managing its main dumpsite is a headache, saying potential investors were pulling out immediately after assessing the site.

According to the department of water, environment and natural resources, the county government has not been successful in securing an investor to manage the Gioto dumpsite.

The Water chief officer Nelson Maara says of the Sh60 million allocated to waste management in the county every year, Sh20 million was spent on Gioto alone.

Gioto dumping site is located a kilometre from Nakuru town and poses an environmental nightmare and health hazard to residents.

Residents living near it and motorists using the roads next to the site have raised concern over the health hazard posed due to emissions.

The condition worsens when it rains as the water sweeps a bigger portion of the trash onto the roads, risking the lives of motorists as the roads becomes slippery.

Efforts to woo investors to venture into recycling of waste, including turning the site into a mini-power generation plant have come to nought while the dump is generating up to 250 metric tonnes daily.

The Nakuru executive for water, environment and natural resources Richard Rop says they have suffered a blow after some investors interested in recycling pulled out.

A number of investors, both local and international, have approached the county government with the intention of converting the waste into a profitable venture but most of them ended up going quiet.

“We have held a number of exchange visits with various countries, which include a Finnish company where we have engaged in talks likely to lead to a productive venture and eventually realised they were no longer interested,” said Dr Rop.