MPs to submit plea to form garbage crisis probe panel

Manama : As the country grapples with the waste crisis, around 10 MPs have signed a petition recently to form a parliamentary investigative committee to look into the matter. 

“The MPs have signed the petition but we haven’t submitted it to the Council’s administration yet,” revealed Parliament’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security Committee Member Jamal Buhassan. 

“We expect a total of 25 members to join soon. Parliament’s bylaws stipulate that a minimum of five MPs are required to submit a request to form an investigative committee,” he elaborated.

Meanwhile, Buhassan blamed Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry for the waste disposal crisis that hit both Northern and Southern Governorates during the first week of July.

He alleged that the agreement between the ministry and the new cleaning company had flaws, which resulted in the accumulation of waste in many areas.

“The new company is yet to provide waste bins and containers in many areas of the Southern Governorate. The previous company had placed three waste containers for each group of houses, while the new company has provided one container only. This causes the accumulation of garbage,” Buhassan observed.

The lawmaker said: “The agreement wasn’t thoroughly revised and the ministry didn’t consult municipal councils in both areas before contracting with the new company.”

As reported earlier this month, a new Spanish company, Urbaser, was tasked to clean both governorates by the ministry, replacing the former firm, Sphinx. However, waste had not been removed for several days from many areas. 

‘Faced challenges’

Urbaser CEO Luis Delcampa said the company had faced several challenges during the first week of their operation. “The piles of garbage wasn’t cleared by the former company in the last few days before they wind up their operation. It caused the mounting of waste in different parts of the governorates,” he said, adding that it had made a daunting task for them.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa had directed to investigate the matter and take necessary legal measures against the parties involved.

On July 14, the Public Prosecution announced that it had received a legal complaint from the ministry against Sphinx for committing violations pertaining to its duties mentioned in its agreement with the ministry.