Environmental clearance for Walvis Bay dump site

Rudi Bowe 

Waste removal fees paid by ratepayers must be re-invested in better and sustainable waste disposal infrastructure and techniques. This was the call recently by the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, during a visit to the Walvis Bay municipal dump site.

The Walvis Bay municipality applied for an environmental clearance certificate from the environment ministry for the dump site. A clearance certificate was granted.  The approval was granted in terms of Government Gazette No. 6753, dated 1 November 2018.  During a recent visit to the Walvis Bay landfill site, the Minister of Environment and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta said the dump site might not be perfect, but expressed satisfaction with interventions at the facility to keep environmental impacts at a low. He also expressed satisfaction that all procedures were followed properly by the municipality to apply for the clearance certificate.
The Minister assured checks and balances would be carried out by his Ministry on an ongoing basis and also said new, more detailed regulations for waste management is in the pipeline.
It was at this point Shifeta called on the municipality to continuously re-invest waste disposal charges collected from rate payers into proper waste management infrastructure and techniques.