LIBYA – Tripoli City Council, a municipality in Libya has partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to fight waste water pollution in the Tripoli District, which is one of the largest and most populated districts in the country.

As a result of the partnership, the UNDP through the Libya Stabilisation Facility (LSF) will construct a new wastewater treatment plant near the National Heart Centre (NHC) in Tajoura, Libya.

The new wastewater treatment plant will replace the old one which is in an advanced state of disrepair “and with no possibility of rehabilitation”.

The close proximity of the old waste water treatment to the National Heart Center was a continuous risk to the patients and the community surrounding the hospital.

“Wastewater is pumped behind the hospital (NHC), causing pollution and affecting patients and families living near and behind the hospital. In fact, the stagnant water causes diseases due to insects in addition to the bad smells it gives off,” says UNDP.

This sad state of affairs is however expected to change once the new sewage treatment plant with a capacity of 400 m3 per day is completed and commissioned.

According to the UNDP, once the work is completed, the Tajoura National Cardiology Centre will be able to provide health care to 15,000 people a year in a clean environment.

In addition, more than 1,400 people living near the hospital will no longer suffer from the odours generated by untreated wastewater.

Libya has found its public facilities and infrastructure depreciating at a rate faster than enevr imagined before due to the political crisis that has been going on in the country since the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The country’s electricity networks, airports, roads, and water and sanitation systems are among the most essential public infrastructure that has been badly damaged.

This initiative, supported by international donors and executed by UNDP, was set up to rehabilitate war-affected public service facilities such as in order to alleviate the suffering of populations affected by political instability in Libya.

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