Environment

Mayors of Kathmandu valley, including Balendra Shah and Chiribabu Maharjan, have inspected the waste incinerator installed just outside the northern edge of the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).

The yet-to-be-fully-operational facility - which, experts fear, could attract birds in the area - has raised aviation safety concerns stemming from bird hazards, something that the country's busiest airport is already grappling with. Because of Nepal's poor air safety record, Nepali airlines remain blacklisted by the European Union.

Those visiting the site included mayors of Kathmandu and Lalitpur metropolis and Gokarneshwor, Kageshwori-Manohara, Madhyapur-Thimi and Dakshinkali municipalities. Gokarneshwor municipality officials, who hosted the mayors, briefed them how the Rs 40 million facility would burn trash.

The mayors visited the controversial site on Wednesday, August 31, as part of a tour of garbage management facilities around the valley.

The mayors in the valley, home to nearly 5 million people living in 11 municipalities, have long been seeking a lasting solution to the long-festering garbage crisis. The municipalities produce around 1,200 tons of garbage and trash every day.

The solid waste is transported nearly 20 kilometres away to Bancharedanda landfill site, where locals frequently stop trucks, preventing them from dumping the garbage collected from valley municipalities.

Gokarneshwor, home to over 1 million people, has been testing the garbage-burning facility since April. The Japanese-made incinerator, set up under public-private-partnership, generates up to 1,000 degrees Celsius heat and burns up to 8 tons of garbage in a day.

Despite concerns over bird hazard at the busy airport, Gokarneshwor officials defend the airport side facility, claiming that it “does not cause any foul odour, smoke, or pollution in the area”. “The only thing the chimney emits is steam,” Kantipur daily quoted former Gokarneshwor mayor Santosh Chalise as telling reporters on April 12.

Safety concerns

But aviation experts are worried that the trash-burning incinerator, built very close to the north-south runway of the airport could trigger serious aviation safety risks. It violates international civil aviation rules, they say.

The ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization), the 193-member UN agency that facilitates cooperation in air transport, cautions authorities against setting up landfills or incinerators near airports. Yet the incineration facility, barely 50 metres below the northern edge of TIA, appears unnoticed by the concerned authorities, including new valley mayors elected in May.

Former director general of CAAN Tri Ratna Manandhar told NepalMinute in a recent interview: “I assume that they will gather the garbage before it is put into the incinerator. I’m afraid that could attract birds, and [that] it could increase bird hazards at TIA.” 

“What makes the incinerator even more worrying is the fact that it’s been built right inside the flight circuit area,” he said, adding: “ICAO has clear rules regarding Obstacle Clearance Limit (OCL), which should not be violated to ensure smooth flight operations … I think CAAN needs to immediately swing into action without further delay.”

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