JEDDAH, 11 November 2007 — The Jeddah Municipality has signed three contracts worth SR150 million to close the city’s current dumpsite, located east of the ring road, and turn it into an environment-friendly public park.
“The complete closure of the current dumpsite would take two years,” said Khaled Aqil, deputy mayor for services at the municipality, adding that the area would then be turned into a massive public park and golf course.
Aqil was speaking to reporters during a field trip to the new city dump, located around 40 kilometers to the east of Jeddah, yesterday morning.
He said that the new dump, which is due to operate in two months, would end the problem of fires at the current dump, which are started by illegal residents who burn garbage to subtract recyclable materials.
A concrete wall topped with barbed wire surrounds the new dumpsite. Aqil said a security company has been contracted to guard the site from garbage diggers.
Speaking about concerns that the new dumpsite will be surrounded by residential homes in a few years, the deputy mayor said, “The new city dump is located in an area that is far from the city. The city will not expand in that direction for the next 50 years, which is the period that the new site is expected to be in use.”
He added that the municipality is studying a new technology that could be used to generate energy from garbage. “We expect that in the next 10 years this technology would become affordable,” he said.
The new dumpsite, which conforms to the specifications of the US Environmental Protection Agency, also includes a recycling plant.
Non-recyclable garbage would then be stacked, compressed and buried, the deputy mayor said.
