Maputo City Council is spending the equivalent of hundreds of dollars a day on hiring private truck to remove rubbish - while its own rubbish trucks are stuck in Maputo port awaiting customs clearance.
"We are paying about 20 million meticais (830 US dollars) a day to hire four trucks for the cleaning job, and this sum is too high for the municipality's financial capacities", said the city councillor for health, Joao Schwalbach, interviewed in Friday's issue of the daily paper "Noticias".
This is despite the fact that a fleet of six garbage trucks, two mechanical shovels, a bulldozer, and 400 rubbish containers, all imported by the City Council from Italy, been stuck for more than a month at the port, awaiting the conclusion of bureaucratic customs clearance procedures.
Schwalbach said all the City Council knows is that the procedures are in hand, and clearance may be authorised soon.
He noted, however, that until then the municipality has to continue to pay for the hired trucks. In addition, it must also pay parking fees for the imported equipment.
The Maputo municipality has been operating with less than half of its own fleet of rubbish trucks (the others are off the streets thanks to breakdowns), while containers are also in short supply. Vandals have destroyed many containers, and the ugly sight of piles of rubbish in the streets is again assaulting the eyes and noses of Maputo residents.
The customs service has offered no public explanation for the delay in releasing the City Council's property. It has appeared to have forgotten the proud boast of a few months ago that all goods should be cleared within 48 hours.
Fonte: AIM
