Aruwakkalu site: Biggest ever garbage landfill begins operations on Friday

Puttalam district gets priority, other areas in the second phase, locomotives by years' end

Garbage collected from Colombo and other locations islandwide will be sent to the Aruwakkalu landfill in the Puttalam district, only in the second phase of the project, scheduled to start next month, the Megapolis and Western Development Ministry has decided.

In the first phase, which begins on Friday, only garbage from the Puttalam district would be accepted, Ministry Secretary Nihal Rupasinghe said.

Under the project, upto 600 metric tonnes of gar- bage could be received daily at the site, which has the capacity to expand to receive 1,200 metric tonnes daily.

Mr. Rupasinghe said the Puttalam district's local councils had been informed that garbage could be brought to the site from March 15.

Special sealed- type trucks will be used for the transportation of garbage from Colombo. The trucks are due to arrive in Sri Lanka soon.

Under the plan, the Ministry hopes to have special railway carriages to transport the garbage. However the locomotives are due only later this year.

An allocation of US$ 8.2 million has been made to import the railway carriages from China.

Meanwhile, the Aruwakkalu project has been fortified to prevent wild elephants from entering the site. An electric fence, plants with thorns including lime have been planted in addition to the normal fence.

Arrangements have been made to wash garbage trucks while leaving the premises.