23 Sep 2014

The mayor of Gaborone, Mr Haskins Nkaigwa says waste management has improved after outsourcing the services.

In his last address to the Gaborone City Council meeting, which is scheduled to end on Friday, September 26, Mr Nkaigwa said the council no longer recieves frequent public complaints as was the case before, adding that the improvement was attributed to councillor’s relentless appeals for improvement in waste management.

He noted that the council on its own cannot deal effectively with issues related to waste management, adding that they need every stakeholder to join forces with the council to keep the city and its environs clean and litter free.

However, he regretted that the council still experiences waste dumping in open spaces and road reserves and condemned the practice. 

Mr Nkaigwa said it should be noted that as much as they were responsible for ensuring a safe and clean environment, it must be noted that the city does not generate waste.

He noted that waste was generated by members of the community, adding that dumping was also driven by the same community. 

He informed councillors that waste collection contracts with private companies for Phase 1 and Tsholofelo resumed last June. 

He said the contracts would run for three years renewable annually depending on satisfactory performance and fund availability.On other issues, the mayor said the city council operates 15 blocks of public toilets in different areas across the city, adding that most of these facilities were in a poor state of repair because of vandalism and theft of fittings. 

He said it was anticipated that once their management was outsourced, vandalism and theft of fittings would be managed and people would enjoy quality service.

Mr Nkaigwa said upon the completion of the Gaborone integrated sewer project in 2012, it was expected that by now Gaborone residents would have connected to the sewerage infrastructure.

He said it was evident that some residents do not have the funds for connecting. 

He urged residents to approach SHHA offices and apply for sewer connections as it was accommodated under the SHHA/BML.

He further requested the government to engage Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) to extend its credit deadline for vacuum tanker services by another six months to allow residents to connect to the network. 

The mayor said it would be an environmental hazard and burdensome for WUC to stop the services before residents connect. ENDS