THE Cabinet on Monday approved approximately $1.1 billion (US$17 million) for the purchase of a number of vehicles and equipment to improve the services provided by the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA).

Minister of Information and Development, Senator Colin Campbell, said the agreement would also include a five-year contract for servicing and maintaining the acquisitions.

He said that the contract provided for the provision of:

. 60 new garbage compactors at a cost of US$12.8 million;

. 12 mini compactors costing US$864,000;

. four crane trucks costing US$758,000;

. a rear-mounted crane truck for US$212,000;

. two fuel trucks at $96,000;

. two trailer heads at $280,000;

. four water trucks at US$520,000; and

. 12 tipper trucks at US$1.8 million.

“This is to modernise and significantly increase the fleet of vehicles available to the National Solid Waste Management Authority in order to increase its capacity to deal with solid waste collection and disposal islandwide, as well as the need to replace existing aging vehicles,” Campbell said.

In addition, he said the contracts were awarded in the normal process of tendering.

“It is hoped that most of these equipment will start arriving in Jamaica to allow the government to improve the service provided by the National Solid Waste Management Authority by the start of next year”, Campbell said.

The NSWMA has been attempting to reduce the pile-up of garbage in some areas since July, as a number of units have been out of service.

The agency admitted that the trucks have been out of use as a result of mechanical, electrical and hydraulic problems, but said spare parts were not readily available.

Kingston’s Mayor Desmond McKenzie recently wrote to the executive director of NSWMA, Errol Greene, seeking a meeting to address the non-collection of garbage, saying waste was being dumped in the gullies and would aggravate drainage problems.