Nineteen new trucks to boost garbage collection in Nairobi

Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero

By RAWLINGS OTIENO

Nairobi, Kenya: Garbage collection within the city will soon be scaled up, thanks to the purchase of 19 new trucks.

The trucks, which were purchased at a cost of Sh 250 million, will be deployed in the 17 sub counties, on a 24-hour basis to make sure the city remains clean.

City Governor Evans Kidero said a clean environment was one of his key campaign pillars and with the injection of the fleet, more solid waste will be removed from the city streets and residential areas.

“Garbage increases disease outbreaks like diarrhoea, dysentery, the plague and cholera. We want to transform this city by making it clean and this will be done by increasing the fleet to transport solid waste from the city and the estates,” said Kidero.

Addressing City Hall staff during the flagging off of the new trucks at Uhuru Park in Nairobi, Kidero said that over 2000 metric tonnes of solid waste is generated every day.

With the new trucks, about 1200 metric tonnes of solid waste will be transported to the Dandora dumpsite daily as this will restore the city to its former glory and pride of being the city in the sun.

According to Kidero, the city government has already signed a private partnership deal with a German investor to construct a solid waste plant that will use the garbage to produce between 45-70 Megawats of power.

The Sh28 billion waste-to-energy solutions initiative will see Nairobi city residents have a cleaner environment.

The project will generate at least 70 mega Watts per hour of electricity to the national grid and address the perennial black out menace in the city.

Sustainable Energy Management, a German company, will turn solid waste, organic and inorganic, recyclable and non-recyclable material into energy and at the same time make the city clean.

Nairobi produces more than 2,000 metric tonnes of garbage a day with an internal flight of 12 trucks, with an average of only six being in working condition.

As a result of bureaucracy, poor routine maintenance exercise has hampered the effective operations of cleaning the city by collecting the waste, thus compelling City Hall to hire other companies to collect the waste.