Bishkek rubbish dump poses environmental hazard

A city rubbish dump in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, continues to remain an environmental hazard with levels of methane gas becoming dangerously high in some parts. The dump "corresponds neither to ecological nor sanitary requirements," Omurbek Elmanov, a senior inspector at Bishkek's Sverdlovsk district environmental department, told IRIN.

According to media reports, no environmental safety norms are being followed in dumping household rubbish, while the levels of accumulated methane gas in certain areas of the dump have reached dangerously high levels and could explode at any time. Methane can self-ignite, potentially affecting hundreds of people, experts maintain.

"We have sent a number of papers to the government bodies in charge, but there has been no reply. The last comprehensive inspection [of the site] was conducted on 11 December. Now we are submitting the materials to the court", the environment official maintained. "For instance, there is not [even] a simple fence there. Rats and jackals enjoy the area."

Concurring, residents of nearby districts claimed that animals were no longer afraid to appear on their streets due to a lack of proper control measures. Another concern was that the garbage could contaminate a nearby water reservoir, used for irrigating fields. "There is a barley field two metres away from this stinking dump," Kuban Dosmatov, public prosecutor of the ecology laws, told IRIN in Bishkek.

Still another problem was the number of homeless people digging in the rubbish to sustain themselves. More than a year ago, some of them died under a dump heap and a police post was set up to prevent unauthorised access to the site. However, the police only come once every three days to sign in the registration books and shout at homeless people.

According to experts, one city district alone produces 70 to 100 mt of solid household garbage every day. In an effort to mitigate the problem, in May 2002 the Bishkek Mayor allocated a plot of land for a landfill near the former pit of the Soviet-built Krasniy Oktyabr (Red October) plant.

The construction department of the city administration was asked to develop a project to construct a landfill but the necessary documents have yet to be submitted. It turned out that there was no state expertise document approving the project, without which it would prove impossible to start work.

Meanwhile, some reports cite a lack of municipal funds as the underlying cause of the problem. As a result, the Maanet service company running the rubbish dump cannot cope with the problems on its own. Some enterprises responsible for municipal services are still awaiting payments for services rendered as former utilities departments, which have been privatised, do not pay them for removing rubbish.