MIDH Offers Short-term Relief As Placencia Garbage Woes Persist

The Placencia garbage dump debate is still causing worry among locals and others invested in the area’s tourism industry. As we reported on Tuesday, the Placencia Village Council has been left with no choice but to dump its solid waste at the entrance of the dump site, because heavy rain has made the only access road impassable. Well, the Ministry of Infrastructure Development & Housing has heard their cries. Minister Julius Espat told News Five that they can only provide a temporary solution until the rain stops. Right now, they’ll cover the deteriorated accessway with road material, and a permanent solution will come afterward. Here is Minister Espat.

 

On the Phone: Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructure Development & Housing

“The problem we are having is that the rain has been incredible for this two, three weeks. And so, we have had emergencies in lots of areas in the south. We have had to deal with situations in Barranco, in Bella Vista and in other villages where culverts have been washed out. WE have one set of equipment in the southern district, and we are trying to address every issue. But if it is brought to us or the CEO, we deal with it immediately. The area rep has twenty-six villages, so everyday we get requests from various villages and we have to balance assistance to as much communities as we possible can. Yes we would like to help everybody as much as we can, but we do the best that we can. Everybody have a need and some people express it in different ways. We don’t take it negatively. It is one way for us to realize that work needs to be done and we try our best to assist. I don’t think it is political. It is just some people are desperate. There is a lot of rain, and it is a growing community for the tourism industry, we understand that, and we are trying to help.”