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| National |
| Nauseating odour part of life in LL |
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by
George Ntonya, 20 June 2003
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07:45:07
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A repulsive odour has become part of life at a police compound in Lilongwe, where effluent from bursting sewers has for the past three years been running in an open water drainage system into Lilongwe River.
When President Bakili Muluzi directed in 1997 that the PMF compound in Area 1 be shifted to low density Area 47, some business people bought part of the police land and built shops there. However, they blocked a major sewer pipe, forcing the effluent to spill over into the drainage.
“The sewer pipe has remained blocked for years and our attempts to have the issue resolved with city authorities have been in vain,” said Sub Inspector George Suliwa from the maintenance department.
The effluent has posed a great health hazard to residents and other people because it runs past vendors who sell food such as chicken and chips outside the main bus terminus. Some vendors use water from the drainage to wash their utensils.
“This is a very serious problem. We are going to investigate circumstances that led to the blockage of the sewer pipe and see what we can do,” said deputy director in the Department of Public Works at Lilongwe City Assembly, Walker Kaulembe.
Both Suliwa and Kaulembe could not say how the piece of land was sold but reports indicate that the police challenged the sale in court but lost the case, hence the sprouting of shops.
A team of officers from Water Resources Board, Ministry of Environmental Affairs and City Assembly who visited the police compound on Wednesday returned to their offices shocked at the extent of the sanitary problem and agreed to form a task force to find immediate solutions.
“We have to work together to address this issue. This problem might have arisen because we were working in isolation on issues to do with the environment,” said Misford Mikuwa, chief resources officer for Water Resources Board.
The government has since been unable to implement the presidential directive for a new police compound in Area 47 because of lack of funding, according to reliable sources.
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