Garbage collection trucks lined up all Sunday morning waiting to enter the Duquesa garbage dump. The same thing had happened the previous Friday before the arrival of the Minister of the Environment, Francisco Dominguez Brito, who threatened to militarize the garbage dump. Trucks have reportedly had to wait up to two hours to be able to return to collecting garbage.
The problem is especially grave in the National District as the transfer station is full and Mayor David Collado has warned about the environmental health dangers if the situation is not addressed. Collado highlighted the efforts his administration has made to clean up the city but that stressed that these efforts would all be in vain if this impasse involving the garbage dump is not resolved.
Mayors of Greater Santo Domingo and the Lajun company, with the mediation of Environment Minister, Francisco Dominguez Brito, met on Monday, 20 March 2017, to try and reach agreement on the proposed increase of tariffs at the Duquesa dump.
On the previous week Lajun had said they were looking for an increase in the price of the contracts of between 110 and 1,000 per cent, which was rejected by the mayors. The company has requested the payment of US$8.14 per ton of garbage. Lajun’s response was to restrict the hours to receive waste from 8 am to 5 pm and to close the facility on Saturdays and Sundays.
Following the meeting, Lajun Corporation said they would not implement the price increase but only on the condition that an independent international arbitrator be contracted to analyze what the price should be. Lajun proposed the hiring of Price Waterhouse Coopers to conduct a cost analysis and compare this with international standards in order to meet contractual conditions required by the municipalities and the Ministry of Public Health.
The company said that if the analysis showed that Lajun’s prices were correct, the authorities would have to accept them, and if the analysis showed they should be less then Lajun would accept the decision.
The company said they would now operate normally at the weekends and accused the truck drivers of blocking the entrance to the Duquesa dump to then blame the company for delaying the dumping of the wastes.
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