Janzour Municipality warned last Tuesday (24 March) all property owners renting to illegal migrant workers of all nationalities the necessity of daily waste disposal at their own expense and contracting with specialized cleaning companies.
It said that it has recently observed that the accumulation of waste from these properties has weakened the municipality’s sanitation services department, which is primarily intended to serve the residents of Janzour and maintain the city’s cleanliness and overall appearance.
The Municipality warned that it will take deterrent legal measures against any property owners renting to migrant workers who violate these instructions and fail to dispose of waste at their own expense. The failure to dispose of waste leads to environmental and public health damage and detracts from the city’s appearance, it added.
The municipality also confirmed that compliance with these instructions is a legally binding obligation, and violators will be subject to the penalties stipulated in applicable laws and regulations. Adherence to the law is a responsibility, and cleanliness is everyone’s duty, it concluded.
A Libya-wide problem
The move by Janzour Municipality reflects a Libya-wide problem. Strictly speaking, illegal migrant workers are not permitted by law to rent commercial property or engage in commercial activity – including the sale of fruit and vegetables.
The sale of fruit and vegetables in markets or fruit and vegetables shops in Libya is nevertheless conducted overwhelmingly by illegal and/or unlicenced migrants (mostly Egyptians and sub-Saharan Africans).
These traders dump all their spoilt and discarded products in and around their shops or markets relying on municipalities to collect it without a charge for the service. The view is that, as this is profit-making commercial activity, local councils charged with collecting domestic waste, should not have to collect commercial waste for free.
