Shs. 700 million plastic recycling plant project in Arua city hangs in balance due to disagreements over land.

By Morish Dramadri

Arua

Ayivu division council has failed to agree on a motion to allocate a 50 by 50 meters land for the construction of a recycling plant by Arua city in former Oluko Sub County citing inadequate consultation of the local leaders and the communities in the area. The 700 million project funded by the mayor’s migration council, seeks to establish a recycling plant for plastics in the city which according to the decision of the leaders of Arua city should be established in former Oluko sub county but this sparked a lot of controversies between the councilors after most of them demanding for further consultations as they blamed the technocrats and the mover of the motion for only considering the positive side of the project.

Basing on a previous experience of the quarrying site project in this same area of Oluko, Hon. Sinia Florence the female councilor for Nyio ward in Ayivu division revealed that though the project plans to sit on a government land they are considering the environmental impact of the project be done before setting up the project. “Much as the project is going to be on government land, as leaders from Oluko we feel the people are the government so, they should first be consulted before taking a project in their area”, She said. “We are basing our argument on a previous experience of a quarrying project that was taken to Rikii in former Oluko Sub County where environmental impact assessment was not done and the natives of the area are still suffering as their houses cracked and water points all contaminated with gravels of the rock blast at the site. We do not block government projects in our area but we want the environmental impact assessment to be done before the project kicks off”. Hon. Florence continued. 

Speaking experience after experience, Munduni Ronald the area councilor representing Oduluba ward in Ayivu demanded for the project design before accepting to offer land for the project in anticipation of air pollution after the commencement of this project. “When people of Odravu ward in the former Dadamu sub county were yawning for Lagoon, they were taken to enjoy everything at Desert Breeze hotel, they had been telling them the advantages of the lagoon but currently the community around have seen the disadvantages of the lagoon without consulting them. Why we want to see the project design is because am trying to see the air pollution around there, how are you going to control the air pollution?” Munduni reiterated.
Citing the root cause of the whole debate, Philliam Angubo, one of the honorable councils says the local leader have been left out at the start of this project. “Everybody needs a project but the local leaders like councilors and the LCs were not involved in this project much as the mayor and other leaders went on ground, so next time learn to involve the local leaders even if they are of low value to you”, he angrily said.

Meanwhile Malon Avutia the mayor of Ayivu division regrets the decision of the councilors and refutes the claims that consultation was not done yet the council needs to move the motion before consultations start as funds are not yet used. “As a matter of fact if this council has not allocated land we cannot go and consult people, which people are we going to consult unless council says we are allocating this land and in this worth project, there is money which the town clerk says is for consultation so if I went and organized a meeting which money was I going to use?, so therefore a decision needed to be taken which part of Ayivu are these people going to be consulted from ?, in this case for us we said since the power which is three phased line is in Oluko, that was our mind”, Avutia disappointedly said. The components of this 3 years multimillion recycling project among others includes establishment of a plastic recycling plant and institutional greening of some institutions within the project area.

COVER PHOTO: Ayivu Division Councilors By Morish Dramadri