The Benavente City Council decided to reformulate a bid to the Environmental Fund for waste management, dropping the plan to acquire an electric vehicle and opting to purchase two vehicles for bulky waste collection.
During the public meeting of the executive, the council president, Sónia Ferreira, explained that the change results from a reevaluation of the municipality’s needs and the current operating conditions of the waste collection service.
According to the mayor, the initially approved bid foresaw the acquisition of a 27-ton electric vehicle, with an estimated cost of €689,000, included in an overall investment of around €1.2 million, financed through the Environmental Fund.
However, the Council decided not to proceed with this solution due to operational limitations arising from the use of the Salvaterra de Magos Waste Transfer Center, which has recorded periods of closure and is expected to close temporarily again for works.
According to Sónia Ferreira, this situation forces municipal vehicles to travel more frequently to the Raposa station, significantly increasing the distances traveled and “calling into question the suitability of an electric vehicle to the daily needs of the service.”
“There has been an update in prices and a need to reassess the solutions foreseen for the waste sector,” she stated.
In this context, the municipality chose to substitute the purchase of the electric truck with the purchase of two 7.2-ton vehicles equipped with a crane for bulky waste collection, seeking to reinforce the response capacity in an area that has prompted recurring complaints from residents and criticisms from the opposition.
The alteration of the bid is accompanied by a reduction in the funds allocated to the strategic objective dedicated to waste, which falls to around €925,000, allowing €300,000 to be reallocated to investments in the area of energy efficiency.
According to the council president, this transfer of funds will also reinforce “the financing destined to the energy refurbishment of the Santo Estêvão Gymnasium,” whose bid should be submitted in the coming weeks.
Still in the waste sector, the mayor highlighted the investment in “an intelligent container management system,” which will allow remote monitoring of fill levels and the optimization of the collection vehicles’ routes.
The system includes sensors installed on the containers, management software, artificial intelligence modules, and maintenance services, enabling routes to be defined according to the real needs of collection.
The council president also acknowledged that the service faces constraints, such as vehicle breakdowns and temporary insufficiency of available means for collection, but argued that the changes will allow “to reinforce the municipality’s capacity to intervene in the urban waste sector.”
