Gweru City Council has for the second time invited private contractors to bid for the collection of solid waste in the city’s high density suburbs, amid indications of inadequate and obsolete council refuse trucks.
Stephen Chadenga
In November last year, the local authority invited private players to partner council in refuse collection, but the call failed to attract any takers.
“Following challenges experienced in the collection of solid waste, city of Gweru invites interested members of the community owning trucks ranging between 3,5 tonnes and 10 tonnes to submit their bids to the director of health services for consideration and possible hire of their vehicles for solid waste removal,”town clerk Elizabeth Gwatipedza said in a notice.
“The designated areas for collection of solid waste include Woodlands, Ascot, Northlea, Athlone, Nashville and KMP Senga and Hertfordshire. The project will involve solid waste removal from the households through the curbside collection system (door-to-door) to designated central collection points, where the collected waste will be transferred into council refuse compactor trucks.”
Gwatipedza said potential bidders would tour the affected suburbs on March 16, while submission of bidding documents will close on March 30.
In January this year, mayor Charles Chikozho, revealed that the local authority had two refuse trucks servicing the whole city, a situation that is compromising service delivery.
Last month, council revealed that it had sued Deven Engineering for failing to deliver a Nissan UD 80 refuse collection truck bought for $300 000.
