By Yunus S Saliu
As a key component for sustainable city development, the Mayor of Banjul city has re-launched the Waste Management Component called Sahal Set Initiative under the Citylink Ostend-Banjul Project sponsored by the EU funded project.
The project was launched on Thursday, 3rd June, 2021 at McCarthy Square Banjul.
In her launching statement, Mayor Rohey Malick Lowe expressed pleasure in re-launching the initiative saying “it is a project so dear to my heart because of the significance of the protection of our environment and our city.”
She said there is growing need to ensure effectively waste management system “due to importance it has towards the social development of our city and beyond.”
The Mayor extended appreciation to partners, Ostend City Council and the European Union for working with them (Banjul City Council) over the years in different sectors of development.
Mayor Lowe emphasized on the need to invest in reducing, reusing and recycling waste to mitigate and adapt to increase environmental problem and fostering more sustainable city, as she re-launched provision of two waste trucks – 1 skip and 1 compact, 5,700 big bins and safety clothes for waste management workers under the ‘Sahal Set Initiative.’
She therefore, urged every resident in the city to keep Banjul City clean and safe for themselves and generation yet unborn and “we need to take ownership of the city and not to allow people to come and destroy it. We need to protect it and ensure its sustainability.” Saying it is a vulnerable city to environmental crisis “and we all need to play our part to address this.”
“Therefore, today, I launched the Sahal Set Initiative aims at ensuring to give new approach to waste management in Banjul with a view of making the city cleaner and greener. So everyone has responsibility to protect our environment, while investing in waste management also means protecting the health of our communities and the people because it will reduce water and air pollutions,” she added
Representing the EU Gambia office, Luca Palazzoto, stated that a cleaner city means a healthier city, and more satisfied citizens.
Waste management, he noted, is a challenged in many urban environments and having the adequate equipment such as bins and trucks is a first condition to be able to improve the situation.
Mr Palazzoto said he was happy to see that the waste bins have come in different colours which, as examples all over the world have shown, can be the basis for starting to separate different types of waste.
He explained that an effective waste management is based on the 4 R principles which include Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recover.
EU waste policy, he said, aims to contribute to the circular economy by extracting high-quality resources from waste as much as possible.
However, “I look forward to seeing the implementation of the other components of the City Link Project under the leadership of the Lord Mayor and implemented by the Banjul City Council.”
The EU representative continued that “the project can and should be a game changer for the city’s future not only by strengthening the public service delivery but also, through its different components, by protecting the city and preparing to face the major challenge that is represented by the climate change, to which the city is very much exposed and requires all our attention.”
Mr Batchilly, Chief Executive Officer of Banjul City Council, Mr Jonas representative of Ostend City Council, Mr Mam Lai Jasseh, and City Link Project Coordinator also gave statements at the launching.