HIGHVELD – When heading towards Secunda Ext22 on the PDP Kruger Street, a fleet of broken-down municipal trucks, including refuse removal vehicles, can be seen filling up Govan Mbeki Municipality’s yard at the back of the local fire station.
More than 10 refuse trucks are parked in the yard, while GMM is battling to keep up to date with refuse removals in areas such as Evander.
This begs the question: why are parts not being used from one truck to fix another?
The Ridge Times spoke to Mr Donald Green, acting head of communications for GMM on what GMM’s plans are with all the broken-down trucks.
He said not all the trucks in the yard are broken.
“There are refuse removal vehicles that are standing and are not repairable, however, we do have vehicles that are parked there overnight and are still usable,” said Mr Green. Although most refuse trucks in the yard look identical, they cannot use the parts from different models or brands.
“Those that can be repaired will be fixed and those that cannot will be auctioned following the correct procedure.”
In total GMM has 25 refuse trucks of which they claim 20 are used on a “day-to-day” basis for refuse removal.
These 20 refuse trucks are said to cover the whole of GMM.
According to Mr Green, they face challenges when it comes to the unavailability of spares for the refuse trucks, thus creating a backlog in refuse removals.
One refuse truck is said to cost more than R2-million.
The exact figure to run one refuse truck a day is not known, however, Mr Green said the cost of running a refuse truck is huge when you factor in the cost things such as fuel, insurance and maintenance.
