The Ministry of Environment reported it would consider militarizing the Duquesa dump, the major site for garbage deposits for Greater Santo Domingo, if an agreement between management and six municipalities is not reached. On Friday, 16 March 2017, military assigned to the Ministry of Environment were briefly at the site, but did not stay on after the Ministry of Environment reached a temporary agreement with the Lajun Corporation that manages the dump.
The Lajun Corporation had adjusted the garbage dump hours, from 8 am to 5pm, whereas before trucks were able to dump garbage until 8 pm. After Environment Minister Francisco Domínguez Brito visited the site with the brigade of men from the National Environmental Protection Service (Senpa) with the intent to militarize the site, the management of the dump agreed to keep the old schedule at least through the weekend of 17-19 March 2017.
Domínguez said the Ministry has intervened in the conflict Lajun has with city governments of Greater Santo Domingo because the early shutdown of the dump would cause garbage accumulation in the city and could endanger the health of city residents.
He said an agreement needs to be reached among the parties so as not to place the burden of the garbage disposal problem on around 3.7 million Greater Santo Domingo city residents. He said he would be meeting on Monday with the city mayors and the dump management to find a permanent solution to the conflict.
Domínguez said he was acting on recommendations from the Ministry of Public Health that notified Adrian Lee-Chin, general manager of Lajun Corporation, that the health of residents in six municipalities would be affected by the continued impasse and called for the parties to reach a satisfactory agreement.
The Ministry of Public Health stated: “In the understanding that health and environment are public assets protected by the Constitution and Dominican Republic laws, this Ministry disapproves any measure that can negatively affect the population.”
Listin Diario reported that Lajun Corporation on Sunday again created obstacles to the garbage dumping by trucks.
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