DOHA: The Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning has collected over 8,000 tonnes of waste in a month that had been disposed off in public places, said officials.
The ministry has started a clean-up campaign from the north of the country to the border areas in Abu Samra and to Salwa Road in the west, reports Al Watan.
A large chunk of the waste came from households. Umm Salal generated more than 7,000 tonnes, including 2,675 tonnes of domestic waste and 40 tonnes from slaughter houses.
Abu Samra generated about 165 tonnes, mostly from border areas.
Areas like Dafna had more construction waste because of the ongoing construction projects.
Workers did not dump the waste at designated areas, according to Safar Al Shafi, Director, Public Hygiene Department at the municipality.
“There has been some negligence on the part of construction projects that produce tonnes of waste and dump it in wrong places because contractors don’t want to spend more to carry it to designated dumping areas,” he said. “Construction waste is more useful when dumped in designated places and can be recycled into raw building materials, which is better than littering it in places and destroying their beauty.”
He said the ministry is keen to enforce the hygiene law. People leaving construction waste at work sites will be fined and could also be reported to police in the violation is repeated.
Civic inspectors are monitoring all sites to ensure that building owners transport the waste to dumping sites, he said, adding inspectors are familiar with places where violations are common.
Al Shafi said all construction waste is supposed to be taken to the recycling company in Rawdat Rashid, which can recycle up to 2,400 tonnes every day. He said littering all kinds of waste all over is a crime and the municipality is receiving up to 700 requests in a month from residents to control rodents and insects in neighbourhoods.
The Peninsula
