MODERN CLEANER. The vacuum sweeper truck acquired by the Iloilo City government is presented to city hall employees on Monday (March 11, 2024). It will be deployed to areas without street sweepers. (PNA photo by PGLena)
ILOILO CITY – Iloilo City will deploy its newly acquired vacuum sweeper truck before the month ends as part of efforts to improve sanitation methods.
The sweeper truck worth PHP5.8 million has a nine-cubic meter capacity, two-cubic meter water tank and seven-cubic meter trash bin.
It was presented to city hall employees after the regular Monday flag-raising ceremony.
Neil Ravena, head of the General Services Office, said the truck will be deployed to areas without street sweepers, like in Barangays Loboc, Mansaya, Sambag, and Ungka, as well as in the Diversion Road.
"Those are high-speed areas and sort of risky for sweepers to sweep the streets," he said in an interview Monday.
He said the truck could siphon off all kinds of wastes and would leave the area cleaner because it has water that could eradicate all dirt.
Operators are already undergoing skills training to familiarize themselves with all the functions of the sweeper truck and get acclimatized to the terrain they will be cleaning.
Ravena also clarified that no displacement will happen despite the improvement in the local government’s sanitation efforts.
The city’s more than 200 sweepers will retain their jobs since there are city streets that could not be reached by the vacuum sweeper, including Tanza to Calumpang, Dungon up to Ungka, Loboc; and the whole coastal, C1 and radial roads.
Mayor Jerry P. Treñas also said in a press conference Monday that the city government has acquired a new fire truck worth PHP2.8 million, which will be donated to the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).
He said the establishment of Iloilo City Action and Response Care (ICARE) centers entails additional fire trucks.
The mayor said he initially asked for a fire truck from the Department of the Interior and Local Government but he was told that the agency prioritizes local government units with no fire trucks.
The city is also expecting a ladder truck that could reach up to 14 stories, a donation from South Korea through former BFP-Western Visayas director Fire Supt. Jerry Candido. (PNA)
