‘Waste collection machinery to be made operational before Eid’

Quetta mayor says kit has capacity to collect 1,200 tons of trash

ISLAMABAD: The Quetta Metropolitan Corporation (QMC) is all set to make operational waste collection machinery imported from Japan before Eidul Azha, Mayor Dr Kaleemullah says.

The kit that includes waste lifting, collecting and dumping equipment and vehicles has a capacity to collect 1,200 tons of trash which is 65 per cent of the total waste produced daily by the city.



Dr Kaleemullah said it was his resolve to make Quetta the cleanest city by the end of his tenure.

The mayor also said for the purpose, the QMC invested Rs800 million that adds a recycling plant for getting rid of ever-burdening waste.

Kaleem, however, said the QMC was currently facing shortage of staff and the government had been asked to provide more workforce and financial resources to meet targets.



"In 1985, Quetta had a total of half a million population and the QMC served them with the same number of workers as it has today. The population has increased up to four million," he said.

He said the QMC was handling load of 40% of the total Balochistan population with limited resources and workers.

"QMC needs 3,500 sanitation workers whereas currently its strength is approximately 1,000," he said.

Kaleem said the QMC workers would go door to door to collect garbage on Eidul Azha.



For this purpose, he said the workers have been divided into four zones to keep the metropolitan city clean and make it environment friendly.

He also appealed to the citizens not to throw garbage and use designated bins to exhibit responsibility.

He said an operation would be launched soon against encroachments along water courses and nullahs for efficient working of sewerage system so the rainwater could not cause inconvenience to the public.

To a question about demolishing the meat market, he said, “We are establishing a new meat market and there will be a large parking to accommodate up to 500 hundred cars.”