Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE Moshi Municipal Council (MMC) has been commended for implementing strategies aimed at improving the environment and sanitation, leading the council to win awards related to sanitation inside and outside the country, almost every year, in recent years.
The praise was from Deputy Minister in the Office of the Vice-President (Union and Environment) Mwita Waitara during his tour of Moshi.
“I have learned a lot from your projects aimed at improving the environment, including garbage collection and a compost manure project used to produce fertilisers using waste products, including vegetable and fruit waste widely available at markets and in households,” he said.
He said the compost manure plant project apart from producing environmentally-friendly fertilisers compared to conventional industrial ones would also contribute to an increase in food production due its reasonable prices and in national revenue due to high agricultural yields.
“The strategy to improve the environment that you are developing is a model which must be emulated by others. I will leave with a presentation you have made today and go through it page by page to advise the relevant authorities to direct other council leaders to come and learn from your environmental projects so that we can improve the environmental situation nationwide.”
“If we can make educational tours abroad which cost millions of shillings, it is also good to send our officers to learn from you in MMC,” he said.
His Lordship MMC Mayor Juma Raibu said the process of congratulating and awarding those who had done well in terms of improving and protecting the environment had made MMC excel in a sanitation competition in the country.
Earlier, in his presentation which he made on behalf of Acting MMC Director Uhuru Mwembe, MMC Health Officer Sebastian Mgeta said garbage collection was being implemented by the council by 100 per cent.
“The garbage generated in MMC is 286 tonnes per day, while the council collects 185 tonnes per day and 15 tonnes produced are used for recycling projects. Estimates of revenue accrued per annum as garbage collection charges in MMC has reached 288.6m/-,” he said.
He added that councils should cooperate with the leadership of respective wards in the use of funds to implement sanitation projects and improve the environment, whereby expenditures included paying the staff working on environmental projects and fuel for garbage collection vehicles.
