Luanda - The mega emergency campaign for cleaning and collecting solid waste in the province of Luanda starts this Monday, with the involvement of 12 construction companies and a staff from the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA).
Under the coordination of the multi-sector commission created by the President of the Republic, the campaign, whose objective is to eliminate the outbreaks of garbage accumulated in several municipalities, will also count on the participation of operators that have a notable background in the collection of solid waste.
Since last January, garbage collection has been carried out "intermittently", which has resulted in a large quantity of solid waste in almost all municipalities in Luanda.
Since then, several neighbourhoods, streets and projects build by the state, as well as roads and drainage ditches have been taken by the garbage.
The government of Luanda has been promoting cleaning campaigns, with the participation of civil society, to reduce the damage, until the new operators manage to return the previous image of the capital of the country, where more than seven million people are estimated to live.
The rubbish problem in Luanda started to escalate in January 2021, after the provincial government suspended contracts with cleaning operators. The measure was based on the inability of local authorities to continue to pay operators in foreign currency at the update exchange rate, as stipulated in the contracts signed in 2016.
Current data indicate that until November 2020, the debt of the government of Luanda to the operators amounted to more than Akz 200 billion (US $303.030.000 equivalent).
Up to January 2021, the solid waste collection process in Luanda was the responsibility of the companies Queiroz Galvão, in the municipality of Luanda, Vista Waste, municipalities of Talatona and Belas, Nova Ambiental, in Viana, Rota Ambiental, in Cacuaco, Elisal, Cazenga, and Sã Ambiente, in Icolo e Bengo, and Quiçama.
To replace the companies, a public tender was launched following the presidential order of February 23, which authorizes the expenditure and formalizes the opening of the emergency contracting procedure in the amount of akz 34.9 billion (us $53.030.300 equivalent) for cleaning service and solid waste collection.
The process for hiring new operators, which started on February 24, 2021, was attended by 69 companies, 39 of which complied with the requirements and of these seven were approved.
Within the scope of the public tender, the GPL (Provincial Government of Luanda) selected seven operators for cleaning operations in the country's capital, namely Luanda Cleaning and Sanitation Company (Elisal-ep), Sambiente, Multi-limpeza, Jump Business, and Chay Chay, as well as the Dassala/Envirobac Consortium.
The province of Luanda produces at least 6,800 tons of solid waste daily, which were collected, by 2020, by 6 operators.
