Karnataka Cabinet Approves 4,900 GPS-Enabled Garbage Vehicles For Bengaluru

The State Cabinet has approved the acquisition of 4,900 new garbage collection vehicles for Bengaluru, as the city civic body moves to replace its existing fleet with vehicles capable of carrying larger loads.

Bengaluru City Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said the new vehicles will be mandatorily fitted with GPS. The tracking system is intended to monitor their movements and ensure that garbage is collected from all assigned areas.

New fleet planned under 33 packages

The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) has prepared 33 packages for tendering as part of the new garbage collection and transportation system. The Cabinet has approved 10 of these packages, while five others received approval about two months ago.

Thursday was also the last day for receiving bids for another eight packages. Mr. Byre Gowda provided the details while briefing mediapersons after the Cabinet meeting.

The city currently has 5,200 three-wheelers for garbage collection. Each vehicle was originally designed to carry one tonne, but their effective capacity has fallen to 0.5 tonnes because most of the vehicles are old, Mr. Byre Gowda explained.

As a result, the existing fleet handles a total of only 5,600 tonnes of garbage a day.

Once all 33 packages are in place, the city is expected to have 3,000 four-wheelers and 1,900 three-wheelers. The four-wheelers will each have a capacity of three or five tonnes, while every three-wheeler will have a capacity of one tonne.

Higher capacity despite fewer vehicles

The new fleet will be able to handle 9,000 tonnes of garbage a day, according to Mr. Byre Gowda. This would be a higher handling capacity than the 5,600 tonnes managed under the existing system, even though the total number of vehicles will decline.

The plan therefore links the proposed reduction in vehicle numbers to larger carrying capacities. The replacement of ageing three-wheelers is also expected to address the gap between their original one-tonne design capacity and the 0.5 tonnes they currently handle in practice.

Under the new arrangement, the successful bidder will supply the vehicles and manage garbage collection and transportation for seven years.

The annual cost of garbage collection and transportation under the new system is estimated at around ₹610 crore. That compares with ₹598 crore under the present system, although the proposed arrangement is expected to handle a larger volume of garbage.

Source: The Hindu