Online Reporter
Sikhumbuzo Moyo
GOVERNMENT has acquired 85 refuse compactors aimed at improving solid waste management in all the urban and rural local authorities.
The fleet will be managed through the newly established Local Authorities Technical Support Unit (LATSU) committee.
The committee will be hiring out the equipment to local authorities to use in waste collection and also some in road maintenance in line with fulfilling the Call To Action blueprint launched in 2023.
On Friday the Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Daniel Garwe, officially commissioned 20 of the fleet, telling Mayors, chairpersons Town Clerks and chief executive officers from the 92 local authorities that attended the ceremony that the equipment was procured by the Government with the approval of President Mnangagwa.
The initiative follows a series of interventions in Harare Metropolitan Province, which had previously been declared a State of Disaster due to overwhelming waste accumulation.
Minister Garwe acknowledged the failure by many local authorities to meet their statutory waste collection mandates due to inadequate resources.
“Government made a conscious decision to procure refuse collection equipment that shall be deployed to councils on a needy basis, though nominal fees shall be charged,” he said.
The LATSU, chaired by the Department of Public Works, will oversee deployment, cost recovery, and fleet maintenance.
