Harare Mayor Herbert Gomba, yesterday, during the State of the City Address also discussed on the issue of garbage collection in Zimbabwe’s capital.
Lack of waste collection is a risk to human life as garbage attracts disease vectors including rodents, flies and mosquitos.
Gomba said, “The state of refuse collection remains a source of worry for Council and failure to meet the refuse collection schedule has led to illegal garbage dumps across the City.”
“Council procured 30 refuse compactors, of which only 15 were delivered, while 15 remain outstanding due to foreign currency shortages. Council took delivery of 10 skip trucks.”
Despite challenges in garbage collection equipment, the Harare Mayor said the council is making efforts to ensure that the Environment and Amenities Division is adequately resourced.
The council has been implementing an illegal dumps clearance program which has already covered Dzivaresekwa and Highfield.
“We partnered ECONET Wireless Zimbabwe for the construction of a materials recovery centre in Budiriro and this will be replicated in all suburbs funds permitting,” Gomba said.
“We have also implemented a Clean City trial run partnership which we expect to finalize for full throttle implementation once the agreements are signed.”
Garbage collection has always been a challenge in Harare with some suburbs going for months with no sign of trash trucks.
“We hope to remove all illegal dumps especially in the high-density areas and ensure consistent collection of waste,” Gomba said.
“Our aim is to ensure that Harare retains its status as the Sunshine City which is clean and habitable.”