Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, and Technology has signed an agreement with Nooradheen Investment for the establishment of an interim hazardous chemicals and waste storage facility in Addu City.
Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, and Technology Aminath Shauna and owner of Nooradheen Investment Ali Nooradheen signed the agreement at the Secretariat of the Addu City Council. Nooradheen Investment is tasked with developing the facility within four months at a cost of USD91,000.
At the ceremony, Minister Shauna said this is the first such facility to be developed in the Maldives and that it will allow Addu City and Fuvahmulah City to store hazardous waste for disposal. The minister added that developing these facilities in the atolls is important for the safe disposal of batteries, transformers, fuel, and other hazardous chemicals and waste and that the government also plans to develop a facility in Thilafushi.
The hazardous waste storage facility is being built under the Eliminating Persistent Organic Pollutants through Sound Management of Chemicals project. The facility will be used to store hazardous chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) and 16 disused transformers in Addu City before they are transported abroad for disposal. As such, the facility will be used to store 24 tonnes of waste prior to the disposal this year.
The environment ministry stated that the facility will allow the Maldives to dispose of hazardous chemicals such as PCBs in a safe and environmentally friendly manner, in accordance with the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.