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Dandora dumpsite power plant construction plans on course

By COLLINS OMULO December 24th, 2018 2 min read

Nairobi County government has said that a partner to build a power plant at Dandora dumpsite will be unveiled within the next two months.

Environment executive Larry Wambua said that the company was to be unveiled this year but the delay came as a result of the county government extending the period for the companies that had expressed an interest in setting up the recycling plant to present their proposals.

This comes after Governor Mike Sonko said that work on setting up a recycling plant at the dumpsite was set to finally start in November.

The governor said that already 21 companies had made it to the financial evaluation stage – out of the 46 companies that expressed interest in the project – after successfully making it through the technical evaluation stage.

Mr Wambua said that about 50 companies expressed an interest in the project and already 26 have been picked to go to the next stage of financial evaluation that when completed will see a company picked by February next year.

GARBAGE MENACE

“It is on course. We got about 50 companies expressing interest and we picked 26 which appeared serious and we asked them for proposals and asked for additional information to give us concrete proposals. We extended the closing date to December 14 to receive their proposals where we intend to pick one to become our partner. We will now unveil the partner in February next year,” said Mr Wambua.

The executive said that contrary to skepticisms surrounding the project, Governor Mike Sonko is serious about the project that is aimed at providing a solution to the garbage menace in the capital city.

“I can assure Nairobians that the process is on course and the governor is serious about and there is no turning back. We must provide solution to Nairobi,” he said.

ILLEGAL DUMPSITES

He pointed out that Nairobi is grappling with garbage issues as it currently able to only collect 1, 000 tons of garbage daily against 2, 500 tons produced every day.

“Waste management is a big headache for Nairobi with a lot of our waste going to rivers, illegal dumpsites, roads and streets. The systems in place does not match the rate of population growth. Dandora dumpsite is already full and we are currently just compacting the waste going there,” said Mr Wambua.

Mr Wambua explained that City Hall has set aside Sh20 million this financial year to build two transfer stations– a point where you collect garbage and sort it out for what to reuse or throw away – to help in sorting out garbage collected in the county.

Also, the county has engaged more than 300 CBOs and about 50 public sector partners (PSPs), who collect from residences with their own trucks, and has also repaired most of the 60 garbage trucks available where now 50 are operational.