Stay order may worsen crisis: Ranil

Stay orders issued on disposal of garbage will worsen the crisis with regard to the collection and disposal of waste, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament today.

He said this when responding to JVP MP BImal Ratnayake who informed him about the stay order issued by the Supreme Court on disposing of garbage at Muturajawela.

"Stay orders will create more issues especially at a time when diseases such as dengue are spreading," the Prime Minister said while stressing that courts should have initiated a discussion with all stakeholders.

He said the Kesbewa Magistrate Court should conclude the pending case with regard to the disposal of garbage at Karadiyana.

“The main issue pertaining to garbage is not collection from households but disposing it," the Prime Minister said and added that it would be possible to dump 1,200 tons of garbage daily at Aruwakaru.

He said garbage from Colombo, Dehiwala and Kolonnawa could be disposed at Karuwakaru for twenty years and that the recycling of garbage at Muthurajawela would be expanded soon.

The Prime Minister several recycling centres would be set up jointly with the private sector and that these projects would comprise power generation using garbage and the production of fertilizer. "These would be investments more or less and suitable lands for these products have been ear-marked for this purpose," the Prime minister said

He said 250 garbage transportation trucks would be absorbed to the existing fleet belonging to various local bodies and the central government to make waste collection more efficient. The Prime Minister said these would be purchased through state funds and the Korean credit line.

“Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka has been given the task of handling the garbage issue. I had a discussion with him and there should be some kind of breakthrough by tomorrow,” he added. (Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana)