KCCA to procure more garbage trucks, turn waste into renewable energy

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) is set to procure 80 garbage trucks to manage garbage in the city. The authority will also procure an unspecified number of garbage skippers and place them in spaces of 200 metres from each as collection points where city dwellers can dispose of garbage for easy transportation by skipper loaders.
While appearing on NTV Uganda’s Thursday political show On The Spot, Ms Dorothy Kisaka, the Executive Director of KCCA said the procurement of the garbage trucks and the skippers will be done in the next financial year, starting on July 1, 2023.
“On garbage collection, we plan to have a garbage truck for every one of the 99 parishes. President Museveni directed that we have a skipper every 200 meters. We also want to add value to this garbage. That will happen at the new site in Ddundu. We shall not just go and dump the garbage there, but we want to convert this garbage into electricity,” Ms Kisaka said.
KCCA has been in the spotlight for the whole of this week over gaping potholes in the city, with Ugandans starting the Kampala Pothole Exhibition that took the internet by storm. On Wednesday, President Museveni ordered the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to release Shs6 billion for rehabilitation of the city roads. He also ordered KCCA to intensify garbage collection by procuring garbage trucks for each of the 99 wards in the city.
Ms Kisaka yesterday said so far they only have 19 garbage trucks and with the directive of the President, they will procure additional trucks to cover all the wards in the city.
“Preciously, we only had nine trucks to cover the entire city. However, recently, we procured another 10 trucks which now brings the number to 19. These are not even enough to cover the whole city that is why you can see we still have problems. The President directed us to have more garbage trucks and skippers so starting next financial year, we shall procure these trucks. However, it will not just come instantly, but will follow a procurement process,” Ms Kisaka said.
Road works
Ms Kisaka said while the authority acknowledges the problems of potholes in the city, she said they are working to fix them. She, however, reiterated that this can only be done when funds are availed to the authority to execute its mandate.
“We acknowledge there’s a problem which we are going to solve with the help from Government of Uganda. Some roads however have outlived their lifespan. These need a complete overhaul,” she said.
With about 5 percent of Uganda’s population living in Kampala, the city generates up to 22.5 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product. However, while the city generates the single largest revenue to the country’s economy, much of it goes to the consolidated account, and a small percentage is remitted back to the authority.
Cries have been growing louder from different corners that more revenue should be given to KCCA to make the city better. 
“It’s true Kampala contributes more to the economy of the country and we’re working with government to make sure that the funds come in on time. This will help us in our quest to get the roads done,” she said.
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