A NEW garbage truck was, on Thursday, handed over to the Mayor and City Councillors of Georgetown from the Ministry of Communities(MoC) By Hon. Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan.

The 28 cubic metre vehicle is worth some $GYD45M and was handed over to aid the solid waste disposal department in offsetting the garbage collection load on a daily basis.
In a release, the ministry said Minister Bulkan noted that this is part of the government’s 2019 subvention programme while acknowledging that the City Council has financial constraints.

Minister Bulkan said, “It is for this reason central government is forced to step in and provide much critical support by way of equipment and other forms of assistance.”
Previously, the Ministry of Communities provided the Mayor and City Council with a tractor/trailer to the Solid Waste Management Department for the improvement of solid waste collection.

In 2015, the MoC had given the Georgetown municipality two (2) 21 cubic meter, and two (2) 8 cubic meter waste compactor trucks. Additionally, other municipalities have benefited from 10, nine-ton trailers for the ten municipalities across the country. These efforts will assist with the collection and disposal of solid waste. The ten municipalities were given tractors, skip bins, skip lifts and a number of garbage bins.
Currently, the MoC is operating six (6) landfill sites nationwide, in the areas of Haags Bosch, Rosehall, Bartica, Lethem, Lusignan and Kara Kara Linden. This initiative ties in with the (Guyana) United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) six (6) which speaks of sanitation and investing in adequate infrastructure, providing sanitation facilities, and encouraging hygiene at every level. Another Disposal truck, costing some GY35M, will also be handed over.