The Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation has recently bought a road-sweeping machine from Roots Multiclean Ltd (RMCL) through the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme. It would initially be deployed on the 42km newly laid roads in the city. The sweeper is for cleaning the arterial and major roads which are wide like the Kowadiar and the Kurvangonam stretch. The machine can sweep four to 10km in an hour. The Corporation is planning to deploy the vehicle at night to avoid blocking the traffic, Biju K, Municipal Secretary of Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation told CIJ. “The corporation is also looking for cleaning machines which are in smaller size because the existing sweeper cannot reach the narrow by-lanes. We want to see how the operation-maintenance contract of the new sweeper is going on. So we have given them eight hours of compulsory running. We will be giving them tipping fee. Roots will be in-charge of the operations and maintenance for three years. After that we will decide whether to renew the contract or not.”
