An announcement by the Prosecutor’s Office in Thursday’s paper that it has been investigating the situation at the Philipsburg landfill since April may seem a bit drastic. After all, there are no known indications that most of the frequent fires there were set intentionally, although some have suggested as much.
But it’s not only about arson. There apparently have been several complaints of illegal practices at the smoking dumps over the last year and in the eyes of law enforcement authorities the ongoing crisis can be considered a crime against the community, because it constitutes a serious health and environmental threat. There is also such a thing as criminal negligence.
In addition, the country has an agreement with a local contractor to manage the facility. Not too long ago, doubts were expressed whether the company involved was living up to the stipulations and conditions set.
It was also stated that at one point the related amount may have been reduced in an irresponsible manner by government, affecting the quality of the work. The latest news on this was that the current contract will be allowed to expire in seven months rather than seeking a possibly costly early end, and plans are to improve the terms of reference for the future.
In the meantime, a structural solution is being sought with the World Bank, while emergency projects to be executed from the first Trust Fund monies released include assistance with solid-waste management and preventing dump fires in the short term, equipment to store and process trash, partially closing and reshaping the current disposal site as well as providing landfill cover materials. A load of “fill” for the dump was recently brought in from St. Barths by barge, as done in the past too.
One of the urgent actions mentioned by Environment and Infrastructure VROMI Minister Miklos Giterson to Parliament in early May was beefing up security. However, the prosecution noted that access control measures and a basic fire-suppression system had still not been realised.
In a Thursday release (see related story) Giterson said the latter is tied to a detailed reconnaissance during the upcoming visit of a World Bank mission. He also announced the main landfill would now close at 6:00pm, to prevent unsupervised dumping of household garbage.
During the 2018 budget debate United St. Party’s Rolando Brison called for a parliamentary inquiry into this issue “to determine the truth.” The opposition member did not get his way, but investigators are trying to do just that.
