Residents of the northern Mozambican city of Nampula are angered at the decision of the municipal authorities to triple the rubbish collection fee, reports Thursday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”.The increase sounds exorbitant, because previously the municipality had been charging the derisory sum of ten meticais (about 37 US cents) a month for garbage collection. As from this month, the fee rises by 200 per cent to 30 meticais.Residents who spoke to “Noticias” say they were taken by surprise because the increase was not properly publicized. They also ask why they should pay anything at all given the apparent incapacity of Nampula City Council to keep the city minimally clean.“You can see it in this neighbourhood”, said a resident named Alfredo Manuelino. “These heaps or rubbish didn’t appear today. They’ve been here for a long time. But at the end of the month we’re charged 30 meticais. The City Council is swindling us”.It is hard to avoid paying the fee, since it is added onto electricity bills. The municipality says that, despite the complaints, it will not reverse its decision. “This was the decision taken by the members of the Municipal Assembly, and the money is intended to improve the regular collection of the solid waste that is produced every day in this city”, said Abdul Paulo, of the city council’s public relations office.Paulo claimed that work had been done to publicise the measure, including among the Nampula business associations, so he saw no reason for anyone to claim they were taken by surprise. But he admitted that there are indeed “serious difficulties” in collecting rubbish on time, particularly in the outlying neighbourhoods of the city.Paulo promised that better days will come. “The municipality is continuing and will continue to work to solve the problem of the accumulation of rubbish in Nampula”, he declared.
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