Joint Council waste venture shelved at cost of £3 million

Published 17 Oct 2012 08:55

A tender process for a waste treatment initiative involving Fermanagh District Council has been abandoned at a cost of £3 million, it has emerged.

Ulster Unionist MLA Tom Elliott voiced his frustration about the process surrounding the tender process which began in 2009 with the Southern Waste Management Partnership (SWaMP) -- a joint venture between eight councils in the south and west of the Province including Fermanagh. The cost to the taxpayer of shelving the process is £3 million, he said

Mr. Elliott, who is also his Party's representative on the Environment Committee, said: "This process has been a very expensive failure, particularly when one considers the huge costs that each council has to pay for waste disposal, often accounting for the largest portion of their budgets that we as ratepayers have to pay.

"I and others have maintained for a considerable length of time that the entire process was time consuming, inefficient and was doomed to failure. After three years and a waste of £3million, we now learn that the whole process is to be abandoned".

"Given the large amount of waste that continues to go into landfill in Northern Ireland it is vital that we find a method of waste disposal that will reduce this. There are many options which allow waste to produce energy and I believe we should be actively pursuing such options which would benefit the entire community."

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This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 16 Oct 12

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