Rome mayor announces plans for playschool and library at waste treatment site destroyed by fire.

Rome is to build a new headquarters for the city's waste collection company AMA on the site of the Salario waste treatment plant, devastated by fire on 11 December, according to plans announced by the city's mayor Virginia Raggi.

The mayor said that in addition to AMA's new "business centre", the north Rome site would include a "playschool, library, green lawns and a room for public meetings available to citizens."

The plan will see the transformation of the former TMB Salario which processed a quarter of the capital's trash each day - until going up in flames at dawn on 11 December, spreading thick black smoke and pungent fumes over the city.

Raggi said in her Facebook post that AMA's new headquarters would save the city "about €2.5 million in rent each year", adding that in her election campaign she pledged to close TMB Salario by 2020.

Raggi acknowledged that the "damn fire" on 11 December caused "inconvenience" for the city's waste collection but at the same time brought forward the impending closure of the controversial plant.

Built in 2009, the waste processing facility on Via Salaria had long been upopular with local residents who complained of foul smells.

A police investigation is ongoing into the cause of the blaze that gutted the 2,000-sqm site, with sabotage and arson not being ruled out.

The fire resulted in the city receiving assistance from regional authorities in Lazio and Abruzzo as it scrambled to deal with an extra 800 tons of trash per day.

The situation has exacerbated an already-stretched waste collection service, leading to rubbish piling up on streets in the capital, particularly in the suburbs.