Bahir Dar City inaugurates Japan, Sweden aided Fukuoka Method Pilot Landfill Project  

Addis Ababa, July 14, 2021 (FBC) – The Embassy of Japan, the Embassy of Sweden, the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN HABITAT) and the City Government of Bahir Dar officially inaugurated a national pilot project entitled the “The implementation of the Fukuoka Method in Bahir Dar city as an alternative and Sustainable Urban Solid Waste Management” in Bahir Dar, Amhara Regional State.

The project that worth USD 745,000 is jointly funded by the Government of Japan, the Government of Sweden and the City Government of Bahir Dar.

The launching event was attended by ITO Takako, the Japanese Ambassador to Ethiopia, Eng. Aisha Mohammed, Minister of Urban Development and Construction, Dr. Dires Sahlu, Mayor of Bahir Dar City Ishaku Mutambi, UN HABITAT Task Manager for Ethiopia, and other high-level city officials.

At the inauguration, Ambassador ITO stated that the Government of Japan provided funds worth a total of over USD 3.1 million to UN HABITAT for the “Emergency Support to Solid Waste Management in Ethiopian Cities” which was implemented at the open dumpsites in Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar and more recently in Hawassa city.

She added that the Fukuoka Method, which was co-developed by the Fukuoka City and Honorary Professor Matsufuji of Fukuoka University is a cost effective and easy semi-aerobic method in accelerating decomposition of solid waste and reducing hazardous substances, and the project in Bahir Dar has improved the living and health conditions of around 100,000 residents living around the dumpsite and further downstream areas.

Eng. Ayisha Mohammed in her part explained that Solid Waste Management is one of the three major urban basic services identified by MUDCo that is directly related to urban good governance and that cities are assessed annually on their performance based on those basic services.

Most Ethiopian cities have open dumps, without full control and leachate treatment facilities leading to the continuous burning up of waste and build-up of methane gas to dangerous levels, she explained.

Eng. Ayisha added that this national pilot project is first initiated by the Federal Ministry of Urban Development and Construction to be implemented as a pilot in Bahir Dar and the ministry is very much happy to see it is successfully done for which she thanked the implementing agency, UN HABITAT, and the Government of Japan and Sweden as well as the City Government of Bahir Dar for funding the project.

She mentioned that the Ministry encourages other cities to share experience from this project and replicate it and call up on the Gov’t of Japan and Sweden to continue their support for Ethiopian cities on similar development projects.

Dr. Dires Sahilu, Mayor of Bahir Dar mentioned that Bahir Dar is one of the rapidly growing cities in Ethiopia with over 400,000 inhabitants.

According to the mayor, Bahir Dar city has infrastructure development backlogs to in different sectors of which one is the Solid Waste Management area.  The city has an open dumpsite which is poorly managed and not fully controlled, causing environmental and health risks on the nearby communities.