Closure of the Hulene dump to be announced within 60 days – Minister

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Closure of the Hulene dump to be announced within 60 days – Minister

5:32 CAT | 26 Feb 2018

File photo: Marta Barroso / Deutsche Welle

The Mozambican Minister of Land, Environment and Rural Development, Celso Correia, declared on Monday that the government will announce the closure of the rubbish dump in the neighbourhood of Hulene within the next 60 days.

Correia was speaking at a press conference in Maputo alongside the Portuguese Environment Minister, Pedro Matos Fernandes, who is on an official visit to Mozambique. His declaration came a week after the collapse of part of the Hulene dump, overwhelming seven houses and killing 18 people.

Correia stressed that the government intends to guarantee security at Hulene, even after the dump has been closed. “A fence will be built around the dump that will prevent people from entering that place”, he said.

For years, the municipal authorities in Maputo and the neighbouring city of Matola have promised to build a new, modern landfill in the Matola neighbourhood of Matlemele, to accommodate the solid waste from both cities.

But Correia admitted that the Matlemele landfill will not be ready for another year. So in the meantime, another landfill will be used, but the Minister did not say where. He expected this temporary solution to operate for about eight months until the Matlemele landfill is ready.

Over 120 families who had lived in the immediate vicinity of the Hulene dump are currently receiving assistance at the accommodation centre set up by Maputo Municipal Council in the Ferroviario neighbourhood .

But other families are still living in the shadow of the 50 metre high dump, and are refusing to move, despite the nauseating stench, and the danger of further collapses. They make their living out of scavenging: they scour the dump for anything usable. Some of them proudly told the independent television station STV that they collect plastic from the dump and sell it to Chinese buyers for between five and seven meticais (between eight and 12 US cents) a kilo.

The government wants to resettle them all. “60 hectares has been identified for the resettlement of these families”, said Correia. “We know that some families see a source of income in the dump. We are concerned to guarantee that in the new zone they will also have a source of income”.

To guarantee that people do not return to the dump, he added, the government is sending inspectors to Hulene.

Meanwhile the Public Prosecutor’s Office has announced that it will take the Municipal Council to court over the Hulene deaths. A representative of the Public Prosecutor told STV that prosecutors are looking at the case in detail to assess whether the council should be charged with criminal, or merely civil or administrative responsibility for the disaster.

Source: AIM