Maputo — Maputo 2 Jul - The residents of several neighborhoods of Maputo city are facing heaps of foul-smelling rubbish in the streets because the municipal council has stopped collecting garbage.
According to the municipal councilor for Infrastructure and Health, João Munguambe, cited in Tuesday's issue of the independent newsheet"Carta de Moçambique', the municipality is aware of the heaps of rubbish,"but at the moment there is little that can be done to settle the debts due to financial constraints.'
Munguambe also claims that the money paid by residents in the monthly rubbish tax is not enough to cover the costs of waste collection. However, the municipality has never informed the residents about the insufficiency of their tax contribution, which is added to their electricity and water bills. "The waste collection activity must not stop and we are in the process of restructuring it and this is being done with some science. It's being done and, in the next few days, we'll start repaying the debt', he said.