Suburban
THE City of Harare and the Government are planning to engage the CMED to repair a couple of dozens of broken down refuse collection trucks parked at the municipality’s workshops.
Diana Nherera Suburban Reporter
Harare Mayor Councillor Jacob Mafume says he met the Secretary for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Harare Metropolitan Province Mr Tafadzwa Muguti to discuss the possibility of the local authority to hire CMED to revive the broken down trucks and improve refuse collection in Harare.
The idea to hire CMED arose from the fact that the Government owned equipment company accepts the local currency for its services.
Councillor Mafume said 61 of the refuse compactors were at various stages of disrepair and work had already started to engage CMED to repair the garbage collection trucks.
He said assessments of the repairs to be carried out have already been done and the municipality plans on signing a Memorandum of Understanding with CMED for the repairs to be undertaken.
“We are going to CMED because it accepts RTGS (the Zimbabwean dollar) to get some of our trucks and when they get the trucks, we do a rapid results management system and try to get five out of the workshop per week.
“They have already done the assessment of what needs to be done.
“We need to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the city council and CMED to do the repairs,” said Cllr Mafume.
He was addressing residents at a Harare East Constituency Development Fund meeting held at Greendale Sports Club recently.
The Mayor was responding to Greendale residents who were complaining of erratic refuse collection in the suburb at the meeting.
Cllr Mafume said some communities such as in Borrowdale and Ward 16 in Mabelreign have agreed with council to repair a compactor each to ensure regular refuse collection in their wards.
“Some of them need a few things that won’t be US$2 000 or US$3 000 then they permanently station it at Borrowdale District Office or at Mabelreign District Office and the community monitors the state of repair for that compactor then you are able to use it as frequently as possible in terms of your wards.
“So that could be an immediate solution before the more permanent solution kicks in,” he said. Cllr Mafume said council recently bought 10 tipper trucks and three front-end loaders.
“And we bought an extra 10 refuse compactors, five of the tipper trucks have come and three of the compactors have come.
“Because of the backlog in collecting rubbish, we had developed illegal dumpsites.
“And to clear them, you need a tipper truck and a front-end loader.
“So we are doing a ward-to-ward dumpsite clearance,” he said.
Cllr Mafume said they are facing challenges with regular refuse collection as only eight were on the road in a city which needs at least 36 garbage compactors to ensure effective waste collection.
“We have got eight compactors working plus the three that have come, making them 11.
“To do a proper collection for Harare, we need 36 compactors to be working per day,” he said.
Some of the new refuse trucks bought using Devolution Funds.
The refuse collection agreement between the Borrowdale Ratepayers and Residents Association (BBRA) and the City of Harare (CoH) is progressing well despite a few hitches earlier.
Under the MOU, the BRRA has repaired one refuse collection which is dedicated to collecting rubbish in Ward 18 suburbs such as Borrowdale, Greystone Park, Glen Lorne and Helensvale.
BRRA officials say they are happy to see their MOU with the CoH progressing with the residents’ association saying they are working as a team with council and having regular meetings and communication, which is feeding into an effective operation serving its purpose for the benefit of Ward 18 residents.
The BRRA officials recently toured the workshop facilities at Borrowdale District Office together with Councillor Ian Makone, senior staff from the waste department and the Borrowdale district officer where the refuse truck will be kept.
Ward 16 residents, taking a cue from Borrowdale, have offered to repair a council truck which will be dedicated to collecting refuse in the suburbs under their ward and stationed at Mabelreign District Council works yard.
The residents will have to raise US$750 which is required to buys the spares and tyres needed to bring the identified refuse truck back on the road. Suburbs under Ward 16 are Mabelreign, Ashdown Park, Cotswold Hills, Sentosa, Haig Park, Meyrick Park, Sunridge, Greencroft, St Andrews, Madokero, Maranatha, Bloomingdale, Nkwisi Gardens, Matidoda, Lenana Park, parts of Tynwald and Westlea and Sanganayi.
However, some Harare residents particularly those from Ward 7 in Avondale have expressed their disapproval of moves by other wards in Harare to mobilise money to repair council refuse trucks saying this promotes dereliction of duty on the part of the municipality as it will seek to outsource more of its responsibilities.
