By Arpana Adhikari
Kathmandu, Aug. 22: There seems to be no relief of garbage piling up in the Kathmandu Valley’s roads in sight as the road leading to Sisdol, the only landfill site of 18 municipalities of the valley, remains badly damaged due to heavy monsoon rains.
The valley denizens should brace themselves for all-encompassing stink emanating from the garbage at their doorsteps or nearby streets which has gone uncollected for the last two weeks in the areas like Kalimati, Baneshwor, Lazimpat, Gaushala, Budhanilkantha, Suryabinayak and Nagarjun, among others.

Talking to The Rising Nepal, Environment Division Chief of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) Hari Kumar Shrestha said the road to the top of the Sisdol was constructed on heaps of garbage, which, during the monsoon, turns slippery, thereby making it very hard for the garbage trucks to drive uphill.

“This dire condition of roadways during the rainy season poses a major challenge in transporting collected garbage to the disposal site. In addition, the landfill site has already reached its full capacity,” he said.
On normal days, up to 150 such trucks reach the site, but only 50-60 lorries are reaching the site this season, leaving the waste to be accumulated in the valley itself, Shrestha said.
Daily 1,045 metric tonnes of solid waste from 18 municipalities of the valley is managed in Sisdol, of which 516 -- almost 50 per cent -- is contributed by KMC alone and almost 170 tonnes by Lalitpur Metropolitan City (LMC).

“Last year, we managed an alternative site for garbage disposal during the monsoon. But this year, we were caught by surprise as the new landfill site in Banchare Danda was said to be opened before this monsoon,” he said. The situation will be back to normal once the rainy season is over, he added.
LMC Mayor Chiribabu Maharjan said the metropolis had not halted the door-to-door garbage collection yet. But the situation is about to turn nasty in a few days.
“All the collected solid waste is being temporarily dumped in Pulchowk, which, too, has run out of capacity. Since we are left with no other option, the garbage collection can be halted anytime,” said Maharjan.
Talking about the waste management issues facing the valley, KMC Mayor Bidhya Sundar Shakya said it was not the sole responsibility of KMC to manage the waste collected from the valley.
“The equal support of provincial and federal governments is needed,” he added. Managing the daily waste of the valley has become a big headache since the existing system for waste disposal is all messed up.
In 2005, the KMC had reached an agreement to use Sisdol, spread across 740 ropanis of land, only for three years. However, the dumping of waste in the site has continued for 13 years.

The Ministry of Urban Development has been constructing an alternative dumping site in Banchare Danda, border between Nuwakot and Dhanding districts, encompassing an area of 1,792 ropanis at a cost of Rs. 1.9 billion.
“However, the construction of the landfill is still stuck in a limbo because the contractor has already missed multiple deadlines,” said Shrestha, adding, “On Wednesday, the KMC has given a 15-day ultimatum to complete the construction of the site, but there are doubts that the landfill will be operated.”

“We don’t want an action against the contractor. What we want, however, is an alternative place to dump the city’s waste.”
Once the landfill comes into operation, it is expected to accommodate Kathmandu’s waste for at least a period of 50 years.