The municipality of Maputo promises to complete the closure of the largest open-air landfill in Mozambique by the end of 2028, explaining that this is dependent on the commissioning of a new sanitary landfill, also in the country’s capital.
“There are a series of activities that must take place for the landfill to be considered fully closed; these relate to environmental issues and are planned until the end of 2028, but it could happen sooner. It is only a matter of being certain, and we are sure that during 2028 we will be working on it and by the end we will have completed this activity,” said João Munguambe, the Infrastructure and Sanitation councillor of the Maputo City Council, quoted today by the media.
Answering questions from members of the municipal assembly, the official explained that the closure of the Hulene landfill, in central Maputo, is now conditioned by the progress of the sanitary landfill construction in the Katembe district, on the southern bank of the capital’s bay, which is expected to start receiving solid waste from the Mozambican capital.
“Before closing or shutting down the Hulene landfill, we must have a new site to place the waste, and according to what is planned, by 2027 we will have the landfill completed and operational. Only then will the closure process begin,” the councillor said.
On January 21, Lusa reported that the Municipality of Maputo launched a tender to close the Hulene landfill, in an operation costing nearly 10 million euros and including a plan to utilize tons of waste.
Since the 2018 incident, when 16 people died at the site following the collapse of part of the landfill, municipal authorities have been receiving various supports for waste management, but the effective closure still has no scheduled date.
It is estimated that more than 1,200 tons of solid waste are deposited daily in the more than 25 hectares of Mozambique’s largest landfill, located in Hulene, a suburb of Maputo, along one of the capital’s main arteries, Julius Nyerere Avenue.
The largest landfill in the Mozambican capital made international headlines when, in the early hours of February 19, 2018, a section as tall as a three-story building collapsed due to heavy rain and fell on several precarious homes in the neighborhood.
Of the 16 people who died on site, seven were children, in an event that sparked debates among environmentalists about the impact of the country’s largest landfill in a residential area.
Source: Lusa