In their quest towards improving sustainable waste management, officials of the Bo City Council are putting all mechanisms in place to restore the city’s historic glory as the cleanest city in the country.
The Bo City Council with funds from the Government of Sierra Leone has conducted a massive sorting and pushing back of wastes within the municipality.
Deputy Chief Administrator, Henry Powell and newly elected Mayor, Kobba Musa, are working tirelessly to fix broken waste fleets and boost waste collection in the locality.
The council has recently demonstrated its commitment to keeping the city clean by reviving the City’s Mile 5 waste dumpsite.
The Mile 5 dumpsite which is situated along the Bo – Yele highway was established in 2008 by a UNDP supported project titled ‘New Solid Waste Management.’
Until its establishment, residents of Bo city dumped household and other wastes in manners and places they liked. Places like Mount Vacuma and Bormeh were the notorious dumpsites for residents which the Council deemed unhealthy for its residents and thus decided to establish the Mile 5 dumpsite.
The dumpsite holds wastes from households and business places of over 233,000 residents of the city, and the aim of the city council’s administration is to ensure a clean and healthy city that will regain its lost laurel of being ‘Sierra Leone’s Cleanest City.
Under the Welthungerhilfe (WHH) ‘Sustainable Waste Management for Bo City and its Environs’ project in 2013 and 2014, Bo City’s Mile 5 dumpsite saw transformation as an Environmental Impact Assessment was carried on at the dumpsite to transform it into a controlled disposal site with facilities like weigh bridge, mitigation measures and a lot more.
Deputy Chief Administrator, Bo City Council, Henry Powell said in order to properly dispose waste from the many households and business places within the City, “creating space is of necessity”, he maintained.
He suggested during the Mile 5 dumpsite maintenance that Bo City has grown bigger and its population is increasing on daily basis, as a result more waste is caused and the city need agile waste management.
Waste Management Department manager of the Bo City Council, Samuel Hinga Navo averred that the council is committed to ensuring and maintaining a clean city, and that encompasses having a safe and sufficient dumpsite.
He expressed that Mile 5 is “not yet” an ideal waste handling site but affirmed that the Council shall continue with its so as to ensure it is handled well. “We are looking forward to a World Bank funded project called the Resilient Urban Sierra Leone Project [RUSLP] which shall transform the dumpsite into a proper landfill site,” Navo stated.
