•Being a joint partnership, Badi said in the MoU the contract was to be done by the Ministry of Energy and they used KenGen as their agency to implement the project.
•According to a 2010 Japan International Cooperation Agency survey, the Dandora dumpsite is over three times full.
Image: / FILE
Plans to solve the garbage menace in Nairobi is on course as the procurement process to set up an energy plant at Dandora dumpsite is complete.
Nairobi Metropolitan Service Director-General Mohammed Badi earlier this month said together with KenGen they have established an implementation team to deliver the project.
“KenGen has just concluded the procurement process and will soon be seeing the factory come up in Dandora under them,” he said.
Image: FREDRICK OMONDI
Being a joint partnership, Badi said in the MoU the contract was to be done by the Ministry of Energy and they used KenGen as their agency to implement the project.
NMS will play part in the provision of garbage.
“Ours is the provision of garbage and NMS is fulfilling by ensuring that all the garbage collected ends up at Dandora dumpsite,” Badi said.
He disclosed that they have also given KenGen land and will soon be setting up that section of waste for energy conversion.
According to a 2010 Japan International Cooperation Agency survey, the Dandora dumpsite is over three times full.
The dumpsite holds over 1.8 million tonnes of solid waste against a 500,000 tonnes capacity.
More than 2,500 tonnes of waste is deposited at the site daily.
In August last year, the NMS said it had struck a deal with KenGen to generate electricity from the Dandora dumpsite.
The garbage-powered electricity plant will help solve the county’s garbage problem and increase the supply of renewable energy.
“If we have a proper mechanism for garbage collection, then Nairobi can reuse waste. NMS has an agreement with the Energy ministry because putting up a factory is a heavy investment,” Badi said.
He said initially NMS had projected a Public-Private Partnership but said the Ministry of Energy had agreed to build the factory in Dandora to ensure it can harvest the energy.
Last week, the county assembly raised concerns over the delay in the implementation of the energy recycling plant.
Through a request for a statement by Dandora, Two MCA Silas Matara tasked the assembly’s environment committee to investigate the delay.
The MCA also sought to know whether public participation on the project was or is being carried out as mandated by law and if Dandora residents and the people working at the dumpsite were allowed to air their views.
“There are a lot of health issues associated with that dumpsite that must be addressed. The NMS had also planned to employ street children to supply its solid waste before they were taken to the dumpsite, however much is still left to be desired, ” Matara said.
If the project succeeds, Nairobi will be on the same level as Durban in South Africa and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia generates electricity on a large scale from the garbage.
In August 2016, former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero struck a deal with the German firm, EMC Solutions, to build Sh28 billion electricity generation plant at the dumpsite. It failed to materialise because the city lacked a title deed.
His successor, Mike Sonko, revived the plan in July 2018, saying the city was in the final stages of awarding the contract. It wasn't awarded.
Badi also said there are plans to change the garbage collection model from a linear to a circular system.
NMS is also making plans for garbage collection that will change from the current linear system in which residents simply dump all garbage together to a circular system.
The aim is to reduce, reuse and recycle.
Kenya uses a wasteful Linear Integrated Waste Management System in which all waste is collected together, put in bags and collected by garbage contractors.
Residents have said sorting and recycling is too much trouble and said it's the city's responsibility.
Before the circular sorting system is established, civic education will be carried out for a least a year.
Residents will be given different coloured bags or containers for metal, glass, plastic, papers and organic waste.
“By using the circular system raw materials will be recycled to a high standard and resources used will be minimised. Plastic and papers will go to recycling plants because you cannot burn plastics,” Badi said.
Once the garbage is collected from households, it will be taken to a sorting area before disposal.
NMS will employ street children to separate solid recyclables from other garbage before they are taken to the Dandora dumpsite.
“Despite the law commanding us to change from linear to circular, the public needs to know how and why the separation of the waste needs to take place. Once the law is passed by Parliament, then we must give Nairobi citizens at least one year of civil education,” Badi explained.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris