ROTTING carcasses and construction wastes are blighting parts of Bahrain and little can be done to combat the illegal dumping, according to a municipality official.

The problem comes from farms and construction companies that choose to dump their wastes rather than bring it to the landfill site at Askar, according to Northern Municipality cleaning services follow-up committee head Hussain Abdul Khaliq.

‘Our inspection teams remove piles of construction waste in the Northern Governorate every day, but it is just not enough to tackle the problem,’ he said.

‘Waste is dumped near to construction sites instead of being taken to the landfill at Askar.

‘Some livestock and poultry farms are also giving us a hard time and we have recently found the carcass of a horse in Jidhafs in addition to two cows removed from Jasra.’

Finding the fly-tippers was more difficult in the case of a dead animal as any identifying marks were usually destroyed by decomposition, Mr Abdul Khaliq said.

‘We can only hold someone responsible if our inspectors caught them doing it,’ he added.

He urged anyone who spots anyone dumping waste or animal carcasses to contact the municipality complaints line on 80008099.

Meanwhile, Southern Municipal Council member Abdul Lateef Mohammed, whose constituency covers Wadi Al Sail and Al Rawadh, claimed his area was ‘filled’ with construction waste.

‘People from real estate companies and even those building or revamping their houses throw the waste onto any empty land next to them just because they don’t want to take the effort and drop it at the landfill in Askar,’ he said.

‘My area is now filled with construction waste despite the efforts made by the Southern Municipality to remove it on a regular basis.

‘Normal procedures taken by the municipality include first demanding that people caught doing it to remove it immediately and then fines.

‘But we can’t catch everyone and most get away with it.’

The GDN reported in January that the Northern Municipality had launched a clean-up campaign, threatening fines for any companies caught dumping.

It vowed to dispatch inspectors and erect warning signs in multiple locations as part of a crackdown.

shahlaa@gdn.com.bh