DCC eyes modern waste management
Sabrina Karim Murshed
Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) plans to introduce truck-mounted sweeping machines and wheeled garbage-containers in five months under a pilot project to make its waste management system effective and convenient for city dwellers. Garbage management and cleanliness are now maintained manually. Cleaners in green aprons start work early in the day, sweep roads and collect garbage at different times. A DCC officer, expressing concern, says the city cannot be well cleaned due to lack of manpower. "The DCC has 7,156 cleaners for 82 wards -- less than 50 percent of the manpower we need," he said. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), at least two cleaners are required for every 1,000 dwellers even if high technology is available. The current ratio is less than one cleaner for 1,000. DCC officials say it is all but impossible for cleaners to keep city roads clean all the time. "Cleaners sweep roads in my areas early in the morning, but the roads get littered by 10:00am," Anwar Hossain, zonal executive officer of DCC zone 7, said, accusing shopkeepers of throwing dirt all around. "By this time cleaners have moved on to another area to sweep." Chief Conservancy Officer Sohel Farouquie said the truck-mounted sweeping machines would help keep city, especially the major roads, garbage-free. "It will help clean dirt from inaccessible places as it is machine operated," he said. Containers on wheels will also help to keep the city clean. Cleaners gather garbage into wheelbarrows to carry it to roadside containers. Manual transportation makes the area around the container unclean as the garbage in wheelbarrows is flung onto the road and hauled into the containers. The wheeled containers will have a ramp at the back that will enable cleaners to push wheelbarrows inside it and unload waste inside. "It will leave the place around container free of garbage," Farouquie said. He said no liquid would drain out, as the new containers will have trays at the bottom. The DCC also mentioned motor vans to be introduced to collect garbage from localities. At least 100 vans will be patrolling the city from March in the first phase, collecting scattered garbage. "It will collect at least eight times more garbage than a single cleaner does with a wheelbarrow," a DCC high official said.
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