Nairobi Governor Sakaja Johnson has vowed to set up a waste-to-energy project at Dandora dumpsite.
The project was first mooted by Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) and the defunct Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS).
Sakaja says the bid is to decongest the already filled up Dandora dumpsite and curb illegal dumping of garbage in the city.
City Hall has put out an Expression of Interest for the waste plant.
“Expression of interest to design, build, finance, maintain, operate and transfer waste to energy processing plant in Dandora, Nairobi,” the notice reads.
The invite has been posted at the government portal tenders.go.ke.
Despite Sakaja’s predecessors announcing similar plans none ever reached the EOI stage in the last 10 years.
The already filled up Dandora dumpsite holds about 1.8 million tonnes of solid waste against a 500,000-tonne capacity.
Nairobi generates 3,000 metric tonnes of waste daily and most goes to the Dandora dumpsite.
Garbage collection in Nairobi has been a recurrent problem for years.
Former governors Mike Sonko and Evans Kidero were unable to sort the issue.
The Nairobi Metropolitan Services under director general Mohamed Badi also failed to deliver even with the help of facilities from the national government.
A number of vehicles from the National Youth Service were deployed to different estates to help in garbage collection in its first days in service.
KenGen, Nairobi Metropolitan Services get go-ahead for Dandora dumpsite power plant
Dandora dumpsite was officially opened in 1975 with World Bank funds and 26 years later in 2001, it was considered full.
In 2016, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority opposed plans for the Ruai landfill, saying it fell within the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport flight path.
KCAA argued that the dumpsite, just 10 kilometres from the country’s main airport, would breach the International Civil Aviation Authority requirement that such a facility be at least 13 kilometres from a runway.
ICAO says the movement of birds from a nearby dumpsite can cause fatal accidents or serious damage to the aircraft.
During campaigns, Sakaja and his deputy Njoroge Muchiri said the city garbage menace has been a problem in the past two governments.
They said if elected, they would ensure that plans commence to set up a recycling plant that will turn the waste to energy.
