Garbage dump to go in municipal plan

The authorities are concerned about the "hidden dangers" of the gases trapped inside the dump.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
The Yefeh Nof municipal development company, the Israel Ports Authority and the municipality have all agreed to join forces to tackle the municipal garbage dump in the Haifa Bay, reports Yediot Haifa. The Yefeh Nof company has come up with a $10 million plan to clean up the dump, which sits at a major intersection between the new port road and the Carmel tunnels, and possibly turn it into a park. According to the report, the authorities are concerned about the "hidden dangers" of the gases trapped inside the dump as well as of pollutants seeping into the air, soil and water around it. The Yafeh Nof company hired an ecological expert who estimated that it would cost $10 million to rehabilitate the dump. Part of the rehabilitation would include sucking out the gases trapped inside, which could then be used to provide energy for the city. The project would fall into the United Nations' plan for rehabilitating garbage dumps around the world and could attract a UN grant. "We must stop the process of pollution in Haifa and its environs," a Yeafeh Nof spokesman said. He added that as well as using the dump's gases productively and benefiting the environment, the area could be turned into an attractive park for the benefit of residents and visitors. "The upgrading and advancement of Haifa will be achieved first and foremost when this becomes a healthy city, through the removal of harmful and polluting elements," the spokesman said.