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Clr Martin Moyo

Auxilia Katongomara Chronicle Reporter
Bulawayo City Council has partnered with truck owners in the city in a bid to alleviate the shortage of refuse removal trucks.

The local authority mooted the plan in February this year and held meetings with the truck owners who wil be contracted to collect refuse from different suburbs.

According to the plan, the truck owners would take the garbage to a designated site where the council trucks would then transfer it to Richmond Sanitary landfill after six months.

The latest development was revealed yesterday at a full council meeting.

Ward 19 councillor, Clayton Zana, asked how the truck owners would be supervised to ensure that they collect the garbage.

Clr Silas Chigora of Ward 4 responded: “The supervision is not really necessary as the truck owners would take the refuse to a designated dumpsite”.

Clr Earnest Rafamoyo interjected arguing that the six months for the refuse collection was too long and the refuse would affect residents.

“Six months is too long, there would be children dumped there if the refuse is not collected,” said Rafamoyo.

Mayor Clr Martin Moyo said since the council trucks will no longer be doing rounds in suburbs, garbage would be collected frequently from the dump site and suburbs.

“This is still a pilot project therefore we will see whether it’s working or not. If it fails, we will resort to our traditional ways of collecting refuse fortnightly,” he said.

The city council’s finance department provided a reserve price of $0.23 per household which was accepted by the truck owners.

“Truck owners collect refuse from household to a collection spot from which Council trucks would transfer it to Richmond Sanitary Landfill.

“The remainder of the Solid Waste Management (SWM) fee charged to residents would be used to remove refuse from the collection points to the sanitary landfill.

It would also be used as usual to fund waste disposal costs, street sweeping, waste education, waste enforcement and to subsidise other activities such as dog control and pan cleaning,” reads the report by the finance committee.

The pilot project is expected to start in Emganwini suburb on Monday and would progressively be rolled out to other suburbs like Nketa, Nkulumane and Pumula.