Caption: Governor Parkop handing over the signed
contracts to Kana Construction MD Roxon Undi
By
MATTHEW VARI
WITH all
the developments and population growth currently taking place in the National
Capital District, the city’s waste products have dramatically increased-
leading the city’s authority to ink a K12.3 contract yesterday with Kana
Construction Limited to transform the city’s only open dump (Baruni) into a
sanitary landfill.
With the
technical knowhow of the Japanese, through the JICA J-PRISM (Japanese Technical
Cooperation Project for Promotion of Regional on Solid Waste Management in the
Pacific Island Countries) Program.
The signing
of the contract will see local construction company Kana Construction redesign
and develop using the Fukuoka Method of landfill management, which originated
in Japan.
Unlike the
conventional waste disposal method of covering the waste with soil in layers
repeated- the method aims to convert and separate dangerous byproducts of the
process to reduce the greenhouse gases currently emitted by the previous system
of waste disposal.
It will
also upgrade the day to day operations and management of the dump which is the
only one that caters for the nation’s capital, after the closing of the
previous 6 Mile dump as a result of a land dispute, regarding encroachment onto
customary land.
Present to
sign the contract, Governor for NCD Powes Parkop reiterated his goal fo Port
Moresby to have a zero waste status.
“Baruni has
not been a pleasant sight for many years, and many countries and cities in the
world are now cautious with the effects waste disposal into the environment,”
Parkop said.
“To have
JICA and Kana Construction, who have experience with the management of the Ok
Tedi Mine landfill, it shows how serious we are in collectively addressing the
issue.”
“We are
sepnding a lot of money to get the outcome we want, so that the waste will not
be a liability to us in the future.”
Kana
Construction Managing Director Roxon Undi, thanked NCDC for their confidence in
his company, adding that their experience of eight years with Ok Tedi made them
the suited to the task.
“Even if the
design is the first to be tried in the country- it is a new one that we are
willing and confident to be the first to implement, with the assistance and
guidance of JICA.”
Chief
Representative of JICA in the country Shigeru Sugiyama, added that the signing
was symbolic not only for the physical nature of transforming the dump, but
also for the changing of mindset in the country and the region when Port
Moresby hosts the 2015 South Pacific Games.
“It is not
only a matter of physical improvement, but also a psychological one for
everyone to reduce, reuse, and recycle,” he said.
“We will
dispatch experts to assist the contractor in the construction phase to ensure
that everything follows the specifications to enable the landfill to be
effective.”
The J-PRISM
program is a partnership agreement between JICA and NCDC for a five year
period, which is in two parts where JICA came in to scope on how to improve
waste management in the city.
Phase two
is the construction phase of the sanitary landfill, which will eventually be operated
and run by the contractor as the NCDC does not have the manpower to so.
NCD is the
first city in the country to have a permit under the Department of Environment
and Conservation.
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