Thursday, May 20, 2010
Gulf News
Many say woken up by them at 5.30am
Automated Street Sweepers Disrupting Residents Sleep
Sharjah The whirring sound of automated street sweepers at 5.30am is causing a nuisance among Sharjah residents, who say they can no longer bear the noise.
Residents, particularly those along Al Buheira Corniche and in Al Majaz, say they have suffered from noise pollution because of the street sweepers.
The Tandeef machines were launched in January as part of an initiative of Bee’ah, the Sharjah Environmental Company, and Sharjah Municipality to clean the city’s streets.
“The machines start at 5.30am and continue until 10am...I try to get a few hours of sleep after I drop off the children but can’t, and end up going to work extremely tired and annoyed,” said Nayyar, a father of two.
A Bee’ah official however said if the slow-moving machines operated later in the day they would pose a hazard to motorists.
The machines were specifically created to deliver a cost-effective and technically reliable solid waste collection system. Nevertheless, other residents have also urged authorities to focus on cleaning the streets in addition to picking up the litter, because branches, leaves and empty plastic bottles continue to be an eyesore for residents.
“The authorities should at least consider changing the timings of operation, because the machines start so early and only concentrate on the same neighbourhood. And at the end of the day, the roads are still dirty because the machines only collect paper,” said Nasser, an Al Majaz resident
Samer Kamal, managing director of Bee’ah, said they were currently unable to make any changes to the schedule of the automated machines, or to reduce the machine’s noise.
“Unfortunately, the cleaning of our streets cannot happen during the busy hours of the day because the slow-moving Tandeef vehicles would cause traffic jams and delays while sweeping the streets.”
ahmed ramzan/Gulf News
Wake-up call
The machines were introduced to ensure the streets are clean but some Sharjah residents say they are disturbing their sleep.
By Mariam M. Al Serkal?Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2010. All rights reserved.
