KARACHI, Nov 28: City Nazim Mustafa Kamal said on Tuesday that the city government would procure heavy machinery, including 41 trucks, worth Rs600 million to improve sanitation and solid waste management in the city.

He said this during a visit to the Hino Pak factory to inspect the first locally-made CNG bus and the solid and liquid waste collecting vehicles. He said that the company would hand over the 41 trucks to the city government by the end of next month.

The nazim said the city was producing about 10,000 tons of garbage daily and due to non-availability of proper equipment, most of garbage was not properly disposed causing hardship to citizens.

He said the city government was paying full attention to improving solid waste management and providing heavy machinery, including trucks, dumper grabber and cranes, to the department concerned. Besides, he said, the staff of solid waste management department would also be increased.

Mr Kamal said that for maintaining cleanliness and disposal of garbage at the landfill sites, the city government took several steps including computerisation of one of the major landfill sites and work on the second site would be completed soon.

He said the 41 trucks being manufactured by Hino Pak would be delivered by the end of December and after the delivery of such machinery to the solid waste management department, accountability would be taken on a firm basis.

The city nazim maintained that the new trucks would help dispose of sewerage waste at the dumping. The vehicles will also be fitted with two huge tankers in which sewage would be transported to the landfill site.

He also underlined the need for changing transport culture in the city completely. He said the federal government had allocated Rs5 billion in this regard and it was the task for the private sector to come forward and utilise the funds.

Later, the nazim inspected the first CNG bus and solid and liquid waste collecting vehicles made by Hino Pak.