By KHRISNA VIRGIL

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

INCREASED rainfall is to blame for a delay in garbage collection throughout New Providence, Director of Environmental Services Melony McKenzie said yesterday.

However, Environment Minister Kenred Dorsett said only 12 of the 22 garbage trucks that service the island are operational.

Several persons told The Tribune that the backlog has resulted in a "terrible smelling" overflow of garbage and waste outside of their homes. Hundreds of "pesky flies" and rodents are also running rampant, the persons said.

"The area around my house smells so stink, and the flies are acting as if they would like to lift me up and carry me away. The bin was black with the flies when I was leaving my house," one woman said.

Another said: "You would think that the garbage people would be on top of their jobs since this is the time when dengue fever flourishes. Old garbage sitting around the place is creating a breeding ground for mosquitos. Next thing you know, another outbreak and the rats, it seems as if an influx of them have come out of nowhere."

However, Ms McKenzie said garbage collectors were only behind in a few areas that included the Millennium Gardens Subdivision near Tonique Williams Darling Highway and Step Street, near the Jungle Club in Fox Hill.

Ms Mckenzie said every day garbage collection spans three shifts from 6am to 2am.

She said: "People don't realise this, but whenever it rains garbage collection falls behind. So last week when it rained for days, that threw us way off."

"We are trying now to get to all of the areas where we fell behind. We are trying as hard as we can to catch up and are making some headway."

"I can tell you for sure that we were very behind on garbage collection and the guys were supposed to get to that in the Step Street area on Monday. But we'll be caught up in that area very soon."

Giving a break down of the collection system, Ms Mckenzie said Nassau is divided into a number of "beats" that are affected negatively with inclement weather.

"In each beat throughout the island there are thousands of units. For example the collectors might have 3,000 or 5,000 units. The beats also have a daily schedule, so any bad weather will stack thousands of units on top of each other."

Collections should soon be back on schedule, Ms McKenzie said.

Business owners from the Arawak Cay strip also complained of a buildup of garbage in the area.

Ministry of Agriculture officials responsible for waste management at the tourist hot spot could not be reached for comment.