Gaborone City Council will now engage local van and truck owners to collect residential waste following its failure to outsource waste collection services in the past two years. Speaking during a special full council meeting yesterday, Deputy Town Clerk Lebuile Israel said they will rope in individuals to collect waste around the city and transport them to identified pick up points where council refuse trucks will haul it to Gamodubu landfill. He said council reached this decision after they failed to outsource refuse collection services due to the exorbitant prices demanded by contractors.
"For Phase One only, contractors wanted (amounts from) P15 million to P21 million for a duration of three years. They quoted P23.3 million for Tsholofelo area for the same period. Unfortunately, we don't have that money," he said.He said they will start with a pilot project in Block 3, 5, 7 and 10. If the project is successful, it will be rolled out to other areas in the city. Israel further said each of these contractors will be assigned to collect refuse from 500 plots at P35 per plot. A week's collection will cost the council P17,500 per contractor and each contractor will be paid P70,000 per month presuming that collection of refuse will be done four times a month. Each contractor will be given a contract period of one year.
