KARACHI: Changyi Kngjie Sanitation Engineering Company, China, is all set to start lifting garbage from January 15, 2017 in East and South districts of Karachi.
Dr Attar Das Sajnani, Director General Sindh, Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB), informed Daily Times that in its first year of operation under the an accord, the company would work on the project and would deliver the people of districts free of charges. However, the Sindh Government will bear the costs for this period amounting to Rs1.5 billion, he said.
We have acquired two landfill sites from Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), for dumping of garbage while a new site will be prepared in Dhabiji on an area of 3,000 acres of land within two months , the construction work of boundary has already been started on the site”, he added.
We have written letters to other districts for the completion of their respective legal formalities in order to become the part of the agreement with Company dedicated for the purpose, Dr Attar said.
We will invite District Council Karachi and six Cantonment Boards later to enter into an accord with the company for lifting garbage from their respective areas, he told.
He further said that in December, 2016, 800 garbage lifting vehicles along with 200 technical staff of the Chinese firm will reach Karachi.
Two office spaces have been allocated in District East and District South for the Chinese workforce, while two workshops for these vehicles, one each at KMC Workshop, Nishter Road and KMC Mahmoodabad Stores, are allotted for the parking of vehicles.
“Works on boundary wall and the installation of security gadgets at these places have also been started”, he added.
Dr. Sajnani said further that the services of around 6,000 employees of Districts South and East, including 2,000 sanitary workers, would be provided to Chinese Company.
SSWMB will bear the salaries of these employees with an additional 25pc allowances in order to benefit better services. The employees will also be provided with new official uniform and the supervisory staff will be given digital communication system to keep a close liaison with the working staff in operation, he added.
A Command and Control System will be set up in the head office at Shaheed-e-Millat Road to monitor all activities ranging from garbage collection to landfill sites.
A survey company has also been hired to collect the volume of industrial areas’ waste, hospital waste ,garbage of all districts and cantonment boards. The company will also submit its report within six months of period, he added.
It has decided to set up 6 Garbage Transfer Station (GTS) in Karachi during current fiscal year 2016-17 and three more GTS will be established in next fiscal year.
“We will generate about 50KV to 1-Megawatt of energy from recycling and some private companies have also their shown interest in this matter under terms of Build, Operate and Transfer basis”, he said.
“We would supply special waste collection bags to citizens of all districts on nominal rates however they will also be allowed to manage their own bags,” the DG SSWMB stated.
He further maintained that 19 different organizations are working on solid waste management in Karachi including Karachi Port Trust, Pakistan Railway, Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan, Pakistan Steel Mills, Port Qasim Authority, 6 Cantonment Boards and also six District Municipal Corporations.
Around 60pc of 4,000 tones is the current lifting rate of garbage per day, out of total flow of 12,000 tones is being recycled and around 10,000 direct and indirect employees are engaged in this job .
DMCs and KMC are spending around Rs5.5bn per annum on the disposal of waste with 4,330 people working against a salary outlay of Rs515m per annum.
