Mechanical sweepers to clean roads

Mechanical sweepers to clean roads
Vijay Times

IF officials of the Bangalore City Corporation (BCC) are to be believed, open lorries that emit a foul smell while transporting solid waste from the City will soon be a thing of the past.

"Autotippers, compactors and closed lorries will replace open lorries. These vehicles will be used for transporting Municipal Solid W aste (MSW ) and sweeping streets," BCC deputy commissioner (Health) Manu Baligar told B BV VT T . Stating that the City Corporation was likely to complete the tender process associated with the collection and transportation of MSW by May end, he said work in this regard would begin from June.

It may be recalled that the tender process, which was pending for a long time, had been deferred several times for various reasons.

Last year , the solid waste and street sweeping contracts were awarded under 60 packages, covering all the 100 wards under the BCC limits. "However , this will be reduced to 30 packages this year ," Baligar said.

The official informed that the BCC had already handed over the technical and financial bids to the Infrastructure Development Corporation of Karnataka (IDECK), which, after reviewing them, had given its feedback to BCC commissioner K Jothiramalingam.

"Following this, the officials concerned have held meetings with contractors and have instructed them accordingly ," he said.

"Around 91 contractors participated in the bids and of these, 75 have qualified," Baligar added.

MECHANICAL SWEEPING MACHINES : In 2003-04, the BCC procured two mechanical sweepers from Chennai to clear dust and solid waste from City roads at a cost of Rs 40 lakh. The machines were utilised for a month and were sent back on the recommendations of health officials, who wanted high quality machines to be procured.

"Now , two mechanical sweeping machines will be deployed to clean City roads," the official said.

Of the two machines, one would be used to clean the stretch between Airport and Mekhri circle covering M G Road, Raj Bhavan Road and the stretch between Chowdaiah Memorial Hall and Mekhri Circle. The other would be used to clean the stretch between the Central Silk Board and Mysore Circle via the Ring Road, Baligar informed.

T ender conditions Door-to-door collection of MSW and transportation of the same to designated locations from at least 1,000 households for a minimum of 12 months.

Regular cleaning, sweeping of streets to a distance of at least 10 km for a minimum of 12 months.

Handling and transporting at least 100 TPD ( T onnes per day) of MSW or any other material for 12 months.