The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Soroti, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Soroti City Council has finalized plans to hire a private firm to manage garbage collection in the new market. The plan to hire a private firm was mooted last year following futile attempts to keep the market and the city clean.
The city has heaps of garbage piled in the central business areas especially in the markets for days. Soroti city has been relying on two trucks that include one skip loader and tipper lorry for collecting and transporting waste to the garbage recycling plant located about five kilometres away from the city centre.
Soroti city produces on average 60 tons of garbage daily but the available trucks collect about ten tons each day when they are in good mechanical condition.
The new city has also had challenges with the competence of staff manning garbage management, prompting the authorities to opt for the privatization of garbage collection. On Monday, the city council approved the new rates that will be levied on every garbage producer in town.
In the new rates expected to commence in July, each household in the city is expected to pay 5,000 to 10,000 Shillings to the private garbage collectors every month. Those living in “bungalows” and senior quarters will be paying between 20,000 to 30,000 Shillings to the firm that will be contracted to manage waste next month.
Hostels, factories, tertiary and university institutions, hospitals, banks and other financial institutions will be paying between 100,000 to 300,000 Shillings every month to the contractor while other businesses will pay between 30,000 to 100,000 Shillings.
According to the document read by the secretary for works, Isaac Asaku, the new move is aimed at enabling Soroti regain its status of being one of the cleanest towns in the country.
Asaku said that while the other categories pay monthly for garbage collection, the market vendors are to pay daily to the service provider between 200 and 1,000 Shillings.
“Garbage is to be collected at least twice in a week and in case the client/ public/ business person requires more days of garbage collection, they will agree with the garbage collector.
For the case of the markets, garbage will be collected twice in a day. The company/group allocated to various markets will be responsible for the sweeping of the market except during general cleaning which includes scrubbing with water and soap”, the document containing rates reads in part.
Emmanuel Okaja, the Deputy City Clerk in Soroti says that the rates will be used to avoid cases of exploitation of residents in the city.
Freda Apolot, a market vendor in the central market says that she will pay for the service provided the new move improves sanitation in the market. “We have garbage piled in our midst. Sometimes, the garbage stench scares away our customers and this makes us lose, so as long as the changes bring sanity in the market, I will meet the costs,” she said.
Soroti Central Market, a 24 billion Shilling facility was constructed with funding from the African Development Bank and was commissioned by President Yoweri Museveni in November 2020. It commenced operations in June last year with over 1,000 vendors.
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