The Monrovia City Corporation or (MCC) and the Paynesville City Corporation (PCC) have received 13 trucks from the World Bank and the European Union (EU) as a help aimed at keeping the two cities clean and safe for citizens.
During the formal presentation of the donation to the MCC and PCC the Tuesday, 9 July, World Bank Operation Officer Ms. Esther Rojas-Garcia said the handing over of the 13 trucks by the World Bank, and the EU is to support the government through the MCC and PCC in its efforts to reduce the huge mountain of garbage in Montserrado and its environs.
She indicates that there are group of donors who have been financing the waste collection here in Liberia including the World Bank for decades.
According to her, initially the support was more than an emergency response support, adding that the goal of their financing is to support the development of a sustainable waste sector that can finance itself and operates over a long term.
She congratulates the MCC and PCC for preparing their five years strategic financial and sustainable plans, assuring that the donors will continue their support to the government in every area where their support is needed.
For his part, Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson T. Koijee extolled the World Bank and the EU for their support given to the government through the two institutions.
Mr. Koijee encourages every citizen in the country to take ownership of the donated equipment.
“We may continue to have these kinds of support, but it will come to a point where everyone will take ownership of these supports,” he says.
Mayor Koijee narrates that the donation coming from the World Bank wasn’t the first given to the government of Liberia.However, he admits that the problem has been the maintenance of the equipment or procuring its own equipment.
According to Koijee, “we must not only seek support, but we must also be able to sustain them whenever they are giving to us.”
He explains that the MCC and the PCC have developed a five – year strategic plan which he says is not about collecting donors’ money, but will see citizens here to begin paying for waste.
Mayor Koijee notes that when the community is clean, it gives a decent face.
He indicates that this plan will focus on dealing with the challenges that the two cities are confronted with.
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Also speaking, the EU Head of Cooperation to Liberia Mr. Theodorus Kaspers says it is a great pleasure to hand over today 13 additional waste trucks to the cities of Paynesville and Monrovia provided under the Cheesemanburg Landfill Urban Sanitation project.
Mr. Kaspers explains that the Monrovia City Corporation received six dump trucks and three skip trucks, while the Paynesville City Corporation received two dump trucks and two skip trucks.
According to him, both cities should be able to collect waste regularly with these trucks together with the pickups, front-end loaders, skip trucks and tricycles that have been handed over in November last year.
“Our aim is not only to reduce the rental costs but even more importantly to make the cities own the waste management,” he explains further.BY Lewis S. Teh—Edited by Winston W. Parley
