Not one tractor purchased by Government to work at the Mangrove Pond landfill in St Thomas is operational.
In fact, a SUNDAY SUN investigation that started prior to last week’s blaze at the expansive site, revealed that for more than a year now the Sanitation Service Authority has been forced to routinely rent heavy-duty earth-moving equipment from the private sector at several thousands dollars per month.
And while the estimated cost to repair two of the youngest tractors bought in 2008/2009 was about $20 000, the authority has been racking up bills of almost $15 000 per month to rent a single tractor from C.O. Williams Construction for more than a year.
A visit to the landfill last Sunday evening revealed three tractor crawlers parked in the yard at the entrance to the facility in various states of disrepair, with a fourth, a specialised landfill compactor nearby, also not in working order. These pieces of equipment normally have a shelf life of almost a quarter century.
