Santo Domingo’s trash poses health threat as contract dispute festers

Santo Domingo. – The Duquesa landfill contractor’s lack of equipment and of technical capacity to handle the waste has turned critical and could become a health hazard for the population in the Dominican capital.

After 4:30pm Wednesday the National District City Council had halted half of the trash picked up in the capital (1,000 tons) in compactor trucks unable to dump it at the landfill.

City Council Environment Risk director Jose Miguel Martinez, and Urban Equipment director Oscar Guillermo Garcia warned of a worsening situation and stressed the need for a technical intervention.

"Our mayor has said that this is out technical control and we in Greater Santo Domingo, where half the population lives, are suffering,” Martinez said, adding that “there’s a problem of management and of shorter schedule, a problem of internal and external roads. The hatching of a health crisis is taking place."

Arias said he’s “practically living in the place, watching the tortuous process of the slow rows of trucks.”

The crisis stems from a months-long contract dispute between the Santo Domingo North City Council, and the Duquesa contractor, Lajun Corp.