VICTORIA FALLS stakeholders on Tuesday witnessed the handover of a new refuse compactor bought by the municipality to alleviate rubbish collection problems that the resort town has been facing for quite some time now.
Ruth Ngwenya
Own Correspondent
Mayor Sifiso Mpofu said the truck will go a long way in lessening the town’s problems and thereby restore confidence among stakeholders through effective service provision.
“The arrival of this truck comes at a time when our municipality is having serious challenges in refuse management due to lack of reliable vehicles, as our current fleet is now too old and almost always down,” he said.
Town clerk Christopher Dube said the municipality used the $20 per household levy that was charged in last year’s budget, which residents complained about, to buy the truck worth $141 000. “This truck was supposed to be delivered by the last week of September, but it was delayed for three months, as it was only delivered in the last week of December,” he said.
“What we intend to do now is to make sure that we redo the old truck and we are also planning to buy another one.
“We have received a loan of about $800 000 from the government for us to buy equipment for the municipality.” Dube said they hoped to buy a bulldozer, a pneumatic compactor, a wheel compactor, water bowser, a front end loader and a back-hoe loader.
Levison Batisoni, the general manager of operations at Duly’s, the suppliers of the vehicle, said they had faced logistic challenges, as they were assembling a truck specially made to suit the resort town’s roads.
The municipality is also in the process of embarking on a refuse dumpsite rehabilitation project, expected to cost $1,6 million.
“We have been given a grant by EMA (Environmental Management Authority) to rehabilitate the dump site,” the Town Clerk continued.
“Of the $1,6 million needed for the project, EMA has promised to give us a third of the amount.” Dube said a tender had been awarded for the rehabilitation of the dumpsite for the project, which is expected to last a year.