Slow move for quick waste disposal
City Correspondent
Despite getting the approval at an Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) meeting in 2000, the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) is yet to buy 75 hydraulic compacting trucks for waste disposal purpose.A compacting truck can carry at least four times the waste than a normal truck as it can squeeze the volume of the garbage using hydraulic power. "Earlier, we tried to get a Chinese grant but the talks failed due to some last minute disagreement. Now we are trying to get financial assistance from Japan. If our talks are fruitful then we expect to buy these hydraulic trucks," said Chief Conservancy Officer of DCC Sohel Faruqui. "Although the fuel consumption of a compacting truck is much more than a normal truck, it still will be very effective for Dhaka city as the time for waste transportation will be drastically reduced," Faruqui said. Many countries in the world prefer the compacting trucks as they can dispose off waste in a short time. The Conservancy Department of the DCC has been loaded with problems regarding garbage disposal as some 100 of its trucks, 10 bulldozers and 2500 hand trolleys have remained out of order for more than a year. Now 370 open trucks and 124 container trucks are transporting the waste of the city. "We are being forced to manage Dhaka's waste with only 6,500 cleaners. According to an estimate, three cleaners per thousand residents are needed. If we consider the city's population, our strength is less than half of our requirements. We have calculated that at least 14,000 cleaners are necessary for the city," said Faruqui. The city produces six thousand tons of waste each day and the DCC is always facing criticism for their failure to deal with it properly. Lack of coordination among four department of the DCC -- conservancy, mechanical, transport and store also reportedly adds to this problem. On August 23 this year, Mayor Sadque Hossain Khoka gave his instructions for forming a Solid Waste Management Cell for better coordination among the concerned departments. "The cell has started working and I think, Dhaka is now much cleaner than before," claimed Faruqui. A nine-member Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) team from Tokyo are expected to arrive in Dhaka in November. They will be staying in Bangladesh for one year to prepare a master plan for waste disposal with the help of the DCC's personnel unit. "Once this master plan is completed, waste disposal of Dhaka will improve a lot," said Faruqui.
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