Maputo City Council owes more than 160 million meticais to the companies contracted to collect and manage solid waste "garbage", and the municipality is making efforts to clean up the "stain".

This debt is an inheritance from the previous administration led by Eneas Comiche, relating to the months between February and December 2023.

Speaking this Saturday on the sidelines of a clean-up day in the Minkadjuine and Munhuana neighborhoods, the city's mayor, Razaque Manhique, assured that work is underway to find financial resources and pay the companies.

"We are implementing a gradual plan to repay the debts. I understand that it is crucial to resolve discontent, whether at the macro- or micro-business level," said Manhique, in the belief that this is the right process to achieve positive results.

Quoted by matutino NewsHe said that new measures would soon be put in place to ensure that small and medium-sized companies contracted to collect garbage in the neighborhoods would be able to do so.

For now, one of the strategies has been to preserve the city through citizen resources. But the city council is also open to suggestions from residents on how to improve waste collection and management.