By: Sainabou Sambou
The Mayor of Kanifing Municipality Talib Ahmed Bensouda has on Tuesday officially launched the newly constructed Kanifing Municipal Town Hall.
According to Mayor Bensouda, the new town hall should remind the people of Kanifing that they have people working for them.
He called on the people to keep them (elected officials) on their toes, press them to do more, tell them what they as a people want and inform their leaders about problems when they arise, whilst holding them to account for the commitments they make.
The town hall will be a spot for people to register their properties, undertake business registration and even pay local authority tax, although rates and licenses can also be paid at any branch of the various banks.
The launch of the town hall was followed by the official launch of the Kanifing Environment Transformation Programme which he says is going to make a difference to the city in many ways.
“KMC has secured this 180 million Dalasi grant from the European Union’s Local Authorities Partnerships for Sustainable Cities 2021 financing mechanism. This grant is an investment in the citizens, businesses and environment of Kanifing. I’m very pleased to be partnering with the EU who have been working side by side with my office and the team in the Council on this laudable project on an ambitious transformative agenda for the Kanifing Municipality.” Mayor Bensouda said.
He further noted that waste management is his priority as Mayor because It affects all aspects of our lives, our health, our economy, the environment, quality of life and the pride we can have in the places where we live and work.
He used the opportunity to give a rundown of how waste can be used.
“More than 50% of our waste is organic, this can be separated, cleaned and sold as compost. The clear PET plastics are valuable and can be exported, other plastics can be melted and sold as pellets and businesses can turn them into water tanks. Metals can be recovered and be used in making other metal products such as iron rods,” he suggested.
Alieu Nyang Project Director of the Kanifing Town Hall said Kanifing Environmental Program (KETP) is aimed at ensuring sustainable focus on new integrated waste management approaches to drive environmental, social and economic transformation in the lifestyles of Kanifing Municipality residents.
He said the project will help transform waste management in the Municipality from being considered pollution, health and environmental challenges to becoming a sustainable economic opportunity that strengthens urban governance, inclusive service delivery and sustainable resource management.
Adding that the project will introduce new innovative technologies and promote the exchange of best practices with students and youths to drive environmental, social, and economic transformation and accelerate the achievement of the UN sustainable development goals.
The project will also help foster peer-to-peer exchanges between Kanifing Municipal residents and Peterborough City Council to transfer best practices between both Municipalities towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the international “zero waste” target.
“The project shall promote the environmental transformation and enhance resource efficiency of Kanifing Municipality by adopting the EU waste hierarchy with a clear focus on waste diversion towards a “Zero Waste” future by maximizing the recovery of “Waste resources via recycling, composting renewable energy, and sustainable construction,” he said.
Joseph Borrel EU ambassador said the Gambia partnership has over time helped deliver important development goals for the Gambia through an intervention that covers many sectors, such as transport, agriculture, water waste management and coastal erosion.
This intervention he said had a dramatic impact on the economic growth of the country in recent years.
