Kisumu county gets land in Chiga to relocate Kachok dumpsite

Loader cranes move waste from the Kachok dumpsite in March. [Denish Ochieng, Standard]

Kisumu county government is in the process of acquiring 80 acres to establish a waste management site as it plans to decommission Kachok dumpsite.

Twenty acres in Kasese, Chiga village in Muhoroni sub-county, will be used for waste management while the rest will be reserved for other county projects.

The county is planning to have a waste-to-energy plant that will also see non-biodegradable materials recycled. The project is expected to serve Kisumu and neighbouring towns, according to Environment Executive Salmon Orimba.

Yesterday, Orimba said the county is already reviewing proposals by various multinational firms interested in turning the waste into bio fuel.

“We are now sensitising the locals on this project. We want them informed that we are not starting a dumpsite but a waste-to-energy amenity that will present opportunities to them,” he said

Although Governor Anyang' Nyong’o’s office had declared that the Kachok dumpsite had been decommissioned, Orimba clarified that the process was not complete since the county had not secured a new waste disposal site.

“Relocation of Kachok is not 100 per cent done and we are still using the site in managing new waste. We are composting organic waste there,” he said.

He said the county was seeking new quarries in Kisumu West and Seme to take more waste from the infamous dumpsite, which, for long, was a gigantic pile of waste. It was an eyesore for people living next to Moi Stadium, and for investors.

The county’s quest for a new waste management ground has been a thorny issue since the idea was mooted by former Governor Jack Ranguma in 2013.

Residents have opposed the project even as the county explained it was not seeking another landfill. The land in Chiga will not serve as a waste yard but a recycling point, where waste will be turned into energy.

Kisumu City, which was last year and early this year named the cleanest in the country, has over the past few months been sinking into filth after a budget stalemate between Nyong’o and MCAs left it staring at a solid waste crisis.

Waste holding grounds across the city turned into huge dumpsites in what the county government attributed to lack of funds to fuel collection trucks.

A proposed hawkers' market near the main bus stage is one of the holding grounds that is now reeking of filth due to waste pile up.

Mr Orimba said the impasse between the executive and the assembly over the proposed  budget had blocked funds, throwing waste management into a filthy spin.

The budget row occasioned by MCAs' demands for a raft of changes in spending plan, including a Sh50 million ward development fund, ended a week ago, unlocking funds but some of the holding grounds are yet to be cleared.

“We are alive to the challenge we face but we are doing everything we can to contain the situation,” he said.