One week after a massive blaze at the New Providence Landfill prompted an evacuation of the Jubilee Gardens community, officials have yet to give an all-clear for residents to return home. Tall Pines MP Leslie Miller asserted that both the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and the Free National Movement (FNM) have failed the Bahamian people and insisted that the landfill be privatized.
"It bothers me, the ignorance of some people in this country for cheap political mileage," Miller said at the landfill yesterday.
"I told one of my constituents I'd rather they not vote for me than for me to lie to them.
"There is no need to lie.
"This dump, I was surprised, this dump covers 400 acres of land.
"Show me where in New Providence where people don't live that we have 400 spare acres of land.
"Show me one place, private or public.
"This is a city by itself."
Miller said the notion of moving the landfill is ridiculous and the solution is to have it privatized and managed properly.
"You have to fire some people," he said.
"...And bring people here who are willing to work.
"People need the autonomy to make a decision when they need to make a decision, without any interference at all from any government, the PLP or the FNM.
"Both of them have failed the Bahamian people with regards to the dump.
"...We are Bahamians, and as Bahamians who are running this dump, we have failed.
"This is now giving us a new chance to get it right.
"So let us work with everybody in getting it right."
FNM Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis shared similar sentiments last week.
Minnis said while the PLP is the governing party, he does not blame it solely for the reoccurring issues at the dump, but the former FNM administration as well.
He said he was not satisfied with the way funds allocated for waste were spent.
"...Certain funding would've been not only for New Providence, but would've been to tackle the entire Family Islands in terms of dealing with how to deal with garbage collection," Minnis said.
"I would be the first to admit that I am not happy with how it was dealt with.
"I can admit that, and we still have the issues, so we have to deal with it appropriately and have more accountability moving forward.
"I mean both (governments). The problem is still not resolved."
In 1999, the Inter-American Development Bank and the government signed a loan - $23.5 million from the bank, $10 million from the government - for the Solid Waste Management Program to be executed by the Department of Environmental Health Services.
Though many residents have moved back into their homes, they have no guarantee that the air that they are breathing is safe.
Anthony Ryan, a public analyst at the Department of Environmental Health Services, said officials conducted air quality tests on 19 homes closest to the dump on Sunday but could not say whether the air is safe.
Ryan did say there was nothing alarming found.

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