Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt has told all executives of 50 districts in the capital that the over 1,000 garbage trucks rented from the private sector are underutilized, working only an average of 7 hours/day, despite the fact they are paid to operate 16 hours/day.
Based on the GPS systems installed in every truck, he said that the city administration has discovered that these rented trucks operate, on average, for less than half the time specified in the rental contract.
“So, for the rest of the hours, the trucks are stationary. I wonder what is happening,” said the governor, as he addressed district chief officers and other city executives at a meeting yesterday (Thursday).
The governor complained that the city administration spends about 8 billion baht a year just for garbage management. It appears, however, that the management is not performing well, he said.
He told the executives that the city administration should either rent the garbage trucks for fewer hours a day or make every rented truck operate for the full 16 hours a day, which would be of most benefit to households in Bangkok.
The governor disclosed that the city administration had considered out-sourcing garbage collection management to the private sector, but scrapped the idea because it would actually be more costly.
By making garbage trucks operate 16 hours a day, he said more garbage can be collected, adding that he wants the frequency of garbage collection in numerous housing estates increased, from once to twice a week.
He has instructed city officials to coordinate with managers and administrators of housing estates to arrange for a single location for households in the estate to place their rubbish, which will make its collection more efficient.
As for the garbage collectors, who are mostly lowly paid, the governor said many of them have told him that they want to work overtime, to earn extra money.
