Cuttack, May 13: Manual sweeping of roads will soon be a thing of the past in the Millennium City. At least three machines are ready to roll out with water sprinklers on brushes to sweep main roads across the city.

“Mechanical sweeping will be inaugurated by chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday,” mayor Saumendra Ghosh told The Telegraph today.

The process of automation would be part of Cuttack Municipal Corporation’s (CMC) Rs 60crore Integrated Municipal Solid Waste Management (IMSWM) project.

“Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited (REEL) of Hyderabad is implementing the project under a five-year contract for sweeping, collection, transportation and disposal of municipal solid waste,” the mayor said.

REEL will deploy two machines with water sprinklers on brushes. “Initially, we will start off with the three machines to sweep the roads. Two more machines will be deployed within a month,” REEL project head Srikant Choudhury told The Telegraph today.

“The machines will cover all major roads. Manual sweeping would be undertaken only in the internal roads including lanes and by lanes where mechanised process cannot be adopted,” Choudhury said. “We plan to sweep the roads after 9.30pm,” he added.

“It’s a thing to feel proud of as Cuttack will be the first city in the state to have mechanised sweeping of roads,” Subhada Das, a student of S.B. Women’s College, said.

The REEL project head said mechanised sweeping would be part of the five-year contract for sweeping, collection, transportation and disposal of municipal solid waste.

“We will ensure door-to-door collection of garbage in 36 of the 54 wards by using over 1,200 community and roadside bins. More than 800 persons will be engaged in collection and disposal of the garbage,” Choudhury said.

“Clearing silt and cleaning the major storm water channels and branch drains will also be undertaken by deploying excavators,” he said.

A senior CMC official said REEL will charge Rs 1,764 per metric tonne of garbage. The city generates 300 to 350 metric tonne of garbage each day. The charge, as part of a package deal, would also include cleaning of all drains on a daily basis, cutting bushes, clearing weeds and performing other activities.

The private operator will operate and maintain the existing compost plant at Sati Chaura for processing biodegradable wastes. It will also maintain the mechanised transfer station at its own cost for collecting garbage and transporting the same to the dumping yard at Chakradharpur on the outskirts of the city.

The civic body currently spends around Rs 1.20crore a month towards garbage collection and disposal. “The expenditure is expected to come down to around Rs 1crore,” the mayor said.