Parliamentarian committee warned of catastrophic situation of garbage in the Egyptian villages
Dr. Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, said that the waste system is an "education" stage, so it is not correct for a state to quote the experience of another country.
She stressed that the nature of the Egyptian governorates is different, as the governorates of the Delta differ, in the construction of the landfill, from other governorates across the country.
The minister made these statements during a meeting of joint parliamentary committees from Energy and Environment in the House of Representatives (HoR) headed by Representative Talaat Al-Suwaidi and the office of the Local Administration Committee headed by Representative Ahmed Al-Sajaini today, Monday.
The representatives met to discuss a draft law submitted by the government regarding the issuance of a law organizing waste management.
Minister of Environment Dr. Yasmine Fouad attended that meeting. She confirmed that her ministry is working in 27 governorates to prepare landfills and intermediate stations within two years, and factories waste will also be completed within four years.
She added that a number of governorates can offer operating contracts for "collection, sorting, transporting and recycling of garbage.
The Ministry of Military Production will raise the efficiency of factories; meanwhile the Ministry of Planning provides the necessary financing.
The Ministry of Finance will supply operating contracts, and the Ministry of Local Development will supply the focused financing unit through coordinating with the governors.
The Minister of Environment stressed that the Waste Law is important because it separates between roles and responsibilities of ministries.
She pointed out that the law deals with the whole province and does not differentiate between ordinary neighborhoods and new urban communities.
The new plan to get rid of waste will be carried out by the Arab Organization for Industrialization and Military Production.
The committee meeting chaired by MP Talaat Al-Suwaidi witnessed more controversy.
Representative Fawzi Fati said that garbage in the villages is disastrous especially in light of the spreading epidemics. He stressed that canals in the villages are full of garbage.
He warned that since the entry of municipalities to collect garbage, five years ago, the situation became dire and may lead to a catastrophe, enquiring the role of governors in garbage collection.
Fati pointed out the need to deal with the garbage system transparently.
On his part, Representative Yousry Al-Assuiti said that the first thing that attracts the attention of the tourist is the cleanliness of the city that he visits.
He criticized placing garbage bags on the streets as they distort any effort made by the state to attract and stimulate tourism, asking about the responsible party that will manage the collection of waste, especially dangerous waste, as there is more than one authority responsible for it such as the Ministry of Health, Environment or Local Development, or the governors.
Representative Saeed Tuaima said that local officials strive in the process of lifting garbage.
But they assign collection and sorting of waste to people who are not qualified and are only interested in collecting money.
Tuaima called for the necessity of having one body that is responsible for garbage collection, and the separation between the government and the private sector.
Rep. Muhammad Khalifa said representatives should not talk about garbage collection in only one governorate.
He pointed out that each governorate is working hard and operating in its own way but we need an integrated system to define the supervisory responsibilities for the projects that will be established for garbage collection.
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