The Makhado Municipality has cited a lack of funds as the reason why construction of the town’s planned new municipal dumping site has ground to a halt.

Louis Trichardt's existing municipal dumping site is in a shocking state and has been causing concern for the past eight years or so. The development of the new site has been dragging on since at least 2007, when the taxpayers association attended a steering committee meeting. The municipality has already obtained a permit for the new dumping site and an environmental impact assessment (EIA) has been concluded. Nothing is happening, however.

“The funding for the establishment of the site was from Limpopo Economic Development, Environment and Tourism, and the current balance cannot develop the site. An additional amount of R1,7million is required in order to develop the site. The Vhembe District Municipality has promised to assist with funding of R5million. We are still waiting for the transfer of the funds to the municipal account,” said the municipality’s director of community services, Mr Elias Mugari.

The municipality said that the development of the new landfill site would start immediately when funds became available. It was not clear what the total cost of the whole development would be.

The landfill will be developed in five phases, consisting of four cells each. Land will have to be cleared, and for one cell, 10 000 cubic meters of earth will have to be excavated. One cell is roughly 60m X 24m and consists of several layers, including base preparation, a compacted layer, a stone leachate (environmentally compatible) drainage layer , a geotextile layer, a composite clay layer or a synthetic clay liner and a stone leachate collection layer.

An evaporation pond will be excavated and layered according to specifications. A locality stormwater drain will be constructed around all phases to divert clean stormwater around the site. A potential contaminated stormwater collection drain and cell control berm will be constructed in and around each new cell.

The first phase will include the constructing of an office and ablution block, a weigh bridge and control room, a gatehouse with proper signage and an entrance road and fencing. A new 2.4 m high concrete palisade fence will be erected on the corner points of the site.

Apparently, the company Bazisa Technical Waste Solutions of Pretoria had been awarded the tender and it will be up to them to appoint a sub-contractor, probably a local one, to work with them.

The municipality indicated the locality of the new waste disposal facility to be around 7km from Louis Trichardt on the Vivo road, “about 2km south of the stone crushers and west of Tshikota on the farm Rietvley, which is reserved by the municipality as a cattle grazing paddock.”

With regard to the concern that the site is located in the vicinity of the airstrip, Mugari answered, “It is more than 300m away from the airfield as required by law”.