BULAWAYO City Council yesterday commissioned 16 service vehicles comprising refuse compactors, tipper trucks and water bowsers, amid reports that most of the local authority’s vehicles had become obsolete and too expensive to maintain.
SILAS NKALA
The vehicles were sourced from XGMA Zimbabwe, Dulys Holdings Limited and Khanyisile Holdings.
Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, director of engineering services, Simela Dube said council had looked at its fleet following the dollarisation of the economy and realised that most service vehicles were old.
“Today, we are commissioning 16 units of service vehicles for road maintenance and refuse collection. To that end, I congratulate policymakers, our stakeholders and partners for the development,” he said.
Dube said between 2012 and 2015 council added more than 80 service vehicles to its fleet as part of efforts to improve service delivery.
Council spokesperson, Nesisa Mpofu said the new fleet comprised of four water bowsers, five tipper trucks and seven refuse collection compactors.
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Bulawayo mayor Martin Moyo said the commissioning of the service vehicles was a cause for celebration and urged residents to continue paying their rates.
“We (Bulawayo) are commended for proper governance and service provision. To be able to do deliver we must have tools and implements,” he said,
“The vehicles we commission today are such tools. The seven compactors come at a time when we are battling with illegal dumping challenges. They are an addition to the fleet of 17 refuse vehicles currently servicing the city.” Moyo said out of the 17 refuse trucks, seven were purchased in 1998, meaning they were too old and to be efficient. He also challenged residents to always take out refuse before 6am on collection days so that it was not missed by refuse trucks.
XGMA Zimbabwe assistant general manager, George Maposa said his company was responsible for the supply of Sino refuse compactor trucks to the local authority and the company has operated in the country for five years supplying more than 200 pieces of equipment so far.
The company represents Sino China in Zimbabwe and XGMA supplies its products to Europe, America and most African countries.
Dulys branch manager, Levison Batison said his company was responsible for supplying council with UD water bowsers trucks. The company specialises in the retailing of Ford motor vehicles, UD trucks and a range of Mazda.
