Chinese contractors have abandoned the construction of the controversial Aruwakkalu sanitary landfill in Puttalam as Sri Lanka’s Urban Development Authority (UDA) has failed to honour payments worth millions of dollars for the contractors, The Sunday Morning learns.
The construction of the landfill was awarded to a consortium between China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd. (CHEC) – the builders of Port City – and the Southwest Municipal Engineering Design and Research Institute of China (SMEDRIC).
As reliably learnt by The Sunday Morning, the construction site has been closed, with the garbage that had been deposited there until the operations came to a standstill last year still remaining.
The Aruwakkalu sanitary landfill is located in Puttalam and was proposed as a long-term solution to the ongoing waste crisis in the country’s Western Province. The project was highly controversial due to its alleged impact on the environment and proceeded while ignoring the voices of local communities, which objected to shifting Colombo’s waste problem to their neighbourhood.
The project, with a cost of $ 107 million, was first proposed in 2014 and originally was to be funded by the World Bank, but did not get off the ground until 2017.
Following the controversial Meethotamulla garbage dump collapse in 2017, the Government intensified its efforts to commence the project with the China Harbour Engineering Company (which was blacklisted by the World Bank between 2009-2011 and by the Bangladeshi Government in 2018 for supposed bribery), which controversially won the bidding process and became contracted; a large part of the financing was eventually provided by a loan of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
The construction of the landfill was announced in 2017, just after the tragic garbage dump collapse in Meethotamulla which killed 32 people. The landfill, located in abandoned limestone quarries of the cement company Holcim, is expected to receive 1,200 tonnes of waste per day over the following 10 years.
Construction of the landfill started in 2018 and was expected to be finalised by March 2020, but waste began to be transferred by trucks from March 2019 onwards, as Colombo’s interim dump in Kerawalapitiya was facing a severe overflow and garbage was starting to pile up in the streets of several neighbourhoods.
According to the initial plans, the Meethotamulla dump was to be converted into a waste collection centre from which waste from the metropolitan area would be transported to Aruwakkalu via railway.
Nevertheless, operations of the landfill have now come to a standstill, raising concerns over the massive amount of funds that had already been spent on the project as well as Colombo’s garbage that is piling up daily.
Temporarily suspended
In such a backdrop, when The Sunday Morning contacted UDA Additional Director General Mahinda Withanaarachchi, he confirmed that the project had been temporarily suspended, but noted that the Ministry of Urban Development was currently taking steps to reactivate the project by absorbing its operations under the ministry as a subsidiary attached to the ministry.
“Discussions are currently underway to convert the project as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model project. A proposal also came to the UDA to take over the project, but we declined as we lacked the relevant expertise. Moreover, under the UDA Act, the authority doesn’t have sufficient know-how to operate such a facility. Therefore, the ministry is now planning to establish the project under the ministry and to recruit experts from different institutions to reactivate it.”
Environmental impact
Since its inception, the project came under massive public criticism, including allegations from environmentalists that it would negatively affect the surrounding biodiversity near the landfill.
Environmentalists pointed out threats to the groundwater, the ecosystem, fisheries and wildlife, and the rural communities of Serakkuliya, Karaithivu, Gangewadiya, and Eluwankulama.
Environmentalists have also claimed that the project would affect highly sensitive and important biodiversity on the site that was selected by the Minister, which adjoins the Wilpattu National Park, Kala Oya, Puttalam Lagoon, and Thabbowa Sanctuary.
Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) Executive Director Hemantha Withanage stressed that there had been issues since the inception of the project as its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) had not been conducted properly.
“We have raised concerns regarding the project, but nobody cared. The Government commenced the project without listening to the public. One of the main concerns regarding the project is controlling the leachate, as Aruwakkalu is surrounded by rich biodiversity.
“When we raised this concern, we were informed that steps had been taken to control the leachate, but since the project is not operational, we are concerned that the leachate is taking place in an uncontrollable manner and about whether it has already damaged the nearby biodiversities,” he stressed.
“We are concerned that the leachate could be causing negative effects to the nearby limestone quarries. The leachate contains harmful toxic chemicals contained in the garbage collected from Colombo,” he added.
Explaining further, Withanage stressed that with the commencement of incineration at Kerawalapitiya, most of Colombo’s garbage was now being sent to Aruwakkalu.
“Poor policy decisions taken by the then administration are now causing massive environmental damage,” he stressed, adding that the project should be terminated and scientifically managed.
Residents’ plight
Demonstrations have been held on several occasions by residents in Puttalam, urging the Government to withdraw the project. They have claimed that the Government had launched this project without any consultation with, or input from, the people of the area.
In such a backdrop, Priyantha Soysa, a 51-year-old resident from Serakkuliya, told The Sunday Morning that the abandoned garbage project would cause a serious threat to their villages in future.
“We haven’t seen anything happening over the past many years. We worry that this could pose a serious threat in future. It seems that they have given up. We don’t need this project either, but the garbage that has already been dumped here should be treated scientifically without causing any damage to the environment,” he stressed.
Previously, it was planned to deposit garbage collected from the Colombo Metropolitan Region daily and the garbage was to be transported in train carriages to the landfill after being compressed at a transfer station in Kelaniya, adjoining the main railway line and the Kandy-Colombo Highway.
Another criticism was that the costs of garbage transportation – eventually taking place from a transfer station in Kelaniya – amounted to about Rs. 4 million per day ($ 52,000).
In an attempt to stop the project, the campaign ‘Clean Puttalam’ was commenced, uniting a broad civil society movement consisting of residents, NGOs, youth groups, women’s associations, religious leaders, and political groups.
Attempts by The Sunday Morning to contact Urban Development Minister Prasanna Ranatunga were futile.
Meethotamulla: Lack of funds affects plans
Although it has been over six years since the Meethotamulla disaster of 2017, the authorities have failed to manage the dumping site as promised.
The Sunday Morning learns that even though the dumping of fresh garbage had been completely stopped soon after the disaster, the initial plan announced by the then Megapolis Development Ministry to convert the dumping site into an urban waste park had been abandoned due to lack of funds.
When contacted by The Sunday Morning, Urban Development Authority (UDA) Additional Director General Mahinda Withanaarachchi stressed that the project had come to a standstill as the authority lacked sufficient funds to continue its previous plan.
As per the previous plans, the project was to have been completed by 2023 at a cost of nearly Rs. 1.7 billion.
A disastrous slope failure occurred at the municipal solid waste disposal site at Pothuwila Kumbura, Meethotamulla, Kolonnawa on 14 April 2017.
According to Disaster Management Centre (DMC) figures, about 29 bodies were recovered from the area and some more were believed to be missing. About 79 houses were completely destroyed while 17 were partially destroyed. Some residents were evacuated from the area for safety.