Rédaction Africa Links 24 with lexpress
Published on 2024-03-07 02:50:00
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| The garbage bins are empty in Ankadifotsy. |
The garbage collection schedule in the Urban Commune of Antananarivo has changed. The bins are empty.
The traders at the Anosibe market were relieved when they arrived at work yesterday morning. The pile of garbage in front of the market had been collected. “The garbage that had accumulated for several weeks was collected last night (editor’s note: Tuesday to Wednesday night). Eight trucks and a backhoe did the work. This return to cleanliness is important for our business. Our customers do not come when the waste overflows from the bins and blocks access,” notes Gabriel Rakotomalala, president of the traders’ association in Anosibe.
The garbage collection schedule in the city of Antananarivo has changed this week. The trucks, including those newly provided by the Japanese government, make several trips between the garbage bins and the dump site in Andralanitra. “Two trucks collected the garbage in our neighborhood on Tuesday afternoon. Since then, the bins are almost empty. In any case, the change is palpable,” says a resident of Androndra.
The team from the Municipal Sanitation Company (SMA) was also preparing to operate in neighborhoods where the bins are overflowing, such as in Andraisoro, yesterday evening. The President of the Special Delegation (PDS) of Antananarivo has ten days to clear the tons of garbage in the capital. The challenge is immense. Despite the acceleration of work with the arrival of new trucks, the waste still overflows from the bins in several neighborhoods, such as Isotry, 67 Ha, Mananjara-west, among others. “The garbage collectors and trucks have not come for several weeks. The garbage even blocks traffic,” reports a resident of the Ambohimirary neighborhood in the fifth arrondissement. “The condition of the bins has not changed. For several weeks, the waste has not been collected,” indicates a source in 67 Ha Northwest.
**Major Challenge**
Richard Ramanambitana, the PDS of the city of Antananarivo, is confident. “Short-term solutions are already being implemented to make Antananarivo a clean city within ten days,” he said during his visit to Anosibe on Tuesday. The real challenge is to ensure regular collection of garbage bins.
Several rapid operations have been carried out in the past, but the problem always resurfaced after the operations. SMA justified this with problems in waste collection equipment, lack of financial resources, and access issues to the Andralanitra dump site. The shortage of trucks has been resolved. Japan has donated thirty multibin trucks, six bin trucks for waste collection and transport, two bin trucks for operating the Andralanitra dump site, and a bulldozer, to the CUA. This should be more than enough for the needs of the SMA.
Work has also been done in Andralanitra to facilitate access to the dump site. The challenge now is to provide the fuel these trucks need daily to operate. The SMA primarily functions with Waste Collection Fees (Rom) in the Built Property Tax (IFPB). Yet the tax collection rate is very low. Richard Ramanambitana urges the residents of Antananarivo to pay their taxes.
*Miangaly Ralitera*
Read the original article(French) on lexpress.mg
