JEDDAH, 26 November 2006 — The city’s existing rubbish dump, located in the Al-Ajwad area, will be closed in three months time coinciding with the opening of a new rubbish dump located 45 kilometers to the east of the city, Jeddah Mayor Adel Fakieh announced yesterday.
The existing dump would be treated, developed and turned into green areas and public parks, he said.
“By next year the old city dump would turn into a breathing lung for the eastern areas of Jeddah,” he added.
The mayor was speaking to reporters during a visit to the site of the new city dump which he described as “one of the best in the Middle East.”
Fakieh said that the idea of establishing a new city dump came after the area around the current dump was developed leading to local residents complaining about the smell and lack of hygiene in the neighborhood. The municipality prepared a study and gave the project to the Safa General Constructions and Projects Company, which has so far managed to complete around 90 percent of the project.
He added that wells are currently being dug in the present dump to release poisonous methane gas that had accumulated due to amalgamation of large masses of trash. The municipality is also establishing new waste recycling plants in both the old and new city dump locations in order to make maximum usage of waste.
Regarding other contentious locations in the eastern part of Jeddah, the mayor said that the current sheep market would be completely shifted to the south of Jeddah within three months. He added that it is presently being considered whether to move the current car scrap yard. He did not specify a date though.
The new city dump is being built at a cost of around SR30 million and will be completed in three months time. The mayor said that in future they would issue sub contracts to operate the 4.5 million square meter rubbish dump.
The location contains 24 separation cells where trash is dried out over layers of leakage proof materials to prevent contamination from reaching underground water, the trash would then be compressed and dug, said Ali Ahmad Aql, an official at the construction company.
He added that there are four huge scales for weighing garbage in order to regulate the flow of work. So far they are installing temporary electricity generators until a permanent electricity line is established.
