INSUFFICIENT FUEL HAMPERS DUMPSITE OPERATIONS
INSUFFICIENT fuel is adversely hampering operations at Chunga dumpsite, a source from Lusaka City Council (LCC) has disclosed. In an interview with the Daily Nation, the source complained that LCC should consider increasing fuel allocations for bulldozers at the site to operate efficiently in clearing some of the waste.
“The 200 litres of fuel that is allocated for the Bulldozers is not enough because these heavy moving machines have an engine which takes about 40 litres of fuel per hour.
“When 200 litres is provided you must divide 200 by 40 and it will give you five hours. 2ur shift is supposed to be an 8 hour shift and so the machine will run a maximum of five hours and stand for 3 hours,” the source said.
The source said there was also a challenge of equipment at the site as most of the machines were broken down and not operational making the moving of waste difficult. The source explained that working for five hours a day was not productive because the staff were failing to manage the waste once the machines stopped working.
But when contacted LCC Acting Public Relations Manager George Sichimba acknowledged the problem of insufficient fuel saying once the fuel tank was mended at the site allocation will normalise. 2n dumping space, 0r Sichimba explained that Chunga landfill had enough space that would go for about 50 years with proper utilization.
He added that out of the 24 hectares of land only two hectares have been used.
“A complaint comes when some contractors dump on the road. The waste is supposed to be taken inside the landfill but you find that the waste is dumped somewhere then the equipment that is there and the bulldozers have to start pushing the waste further inside,” Mr Sichimba said. 2n eTuipment, 0r 6ichimba admitted that the local authority had challenges because some of the LCC machines were not working. He expressed gratitude to Zambia Nation Service (ZNS) who had given them a bulldozer.
He said as a local authority they were doing everything possible to ensure that there was smooth running of operations at the dumpsite.