In a recent article published in the Advertiser (‘Metro truck wheels come off’, June 11) the metro shared their refuse removal challenges.
Paul Krugersoord resident Trudie Scheepers says their refuse bags are being torn by vagrants and the contents strewn all over.
Strubenvale resident Johan Perkins feels inadequate vehicles are deployed.
Ekurhuleni Metro spokesman Themba Gadebe says the residents are correct.
Springs is currently rendering services with only 50% of the required capacity and, in an effort to maintain an acceptable service level, they utilise some of the vehicles and crew from Nigel to assist after hours.
Gadebe says it should, however, be noted that the landfill site closes at 6pm as per the permit conditions so refuse collection stops when the trucks are full and it is after 6pm.
Previously Gadebe said “metro management allegedly need to set aside money to replace the tyres”.
He says it was the end of the financial year and work and procurement orders couldn’t be generated for almost seven working days.
To procure specialised vehicles for Waste Management Services (WMS), the metro first needs to have a tender in place before any vehicle can be ordered.
“It is only then that the supplier can procure a chassis and once that is delivered, it is sent to the load body suppliers who will then build and fit the load body onto the chassis before delivering it to the metro,” he says.
This delivery can take between 12 to 18 weeks from date of order.
For the immediate future the metro has obtained approval to procure specialised vehicles specifically via the National Government vehicle tender.
Gadebe says it is envisaged that the new vehicles will be ready for deployment early January.
At the moment WMS is still working closely with fleet management to try and improve the repair and maintenance turnaround times of specialised vehicles.
“Some progress has been made but it is still a long way before the system will function as planned,” he adds.
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