Ahead of mayoral elections: KMC loses charge of two landfill sites

With garbage collection gone, powers of elected city council reduced further

KARACHI: The charge of two garbage landfill sites in the city, Jam Chakro and Gond Pass, has been handed over to the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) from the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), just a week before KMC's mayoral elections. The elections are scheduled on Wednesday, August 24, at the old KMC city council hall on MA Jinnah Road.

This has apparently been done by the incumbent provincial government in a bid to take powers from the newly formed city council. The elected city council already has no powers regarding areas and functions that fall under the jurisdiction of the Sindh Building Control Authority, master plan department, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, Lyari Development Authority and Malir Development Authority. With major issues such as water, sewerage and land organisation out of its hands, the council seems to be nothing more than a figurehead.

SSWMB secretary Nadir Khan told The Express Tribune that on paper, the charge of the landfill sites has been transferred to the SSWMB but they have not taken over its physical possession as there are several liabilities on KMC's part which have to be paid off.

The KMC has also requested Sindh's local government department, through a letter, to release funds for payments to contractors engaged in operating and managing the landfill sites.

According to the letter, the KMC is supposed to pay Sanco Technologies - the contractor for the Gond Pass landfill site - and Astrotech International - the contractor for the Jam Chakro landfill site - Rs85 million and Rs97 million, respectively.

Whose responsibility is it?

A senior KMC official, on the condition of anonymity, said they have stopped monitoring these landfill sites, as they have been handed over to the SSWMB.

Meanwhile, SSWMB's executive director of operations, Dr AD Sajnani, pointed out that the decision has been taken to handover the landfill sites to the SSWMB but they have not started formal operations as the KMC has yet to pay off its liabilities. Till then, the KMC is responsible for the sites, he claimed.

Khan said the issue of KMC's outstanding bills has yet to be decided but a solution will be found within the next few days. If the rift between the two organisations continues, it could lead to a severe garbage crisis in Karachi in the days to come.

DMCs continue working

Meanwhile, District Municipal Corporations (DMCs) continue their operations of collecting garbage from houses and transferring it to their Garbage Transfer Stations. According to Dr Sajnani, the functions of the DMCs have not been disturbed yet.

Once the city council is formed, its members will decide how and when to assume the DMCs' functions but it must get the consent of the respective DMC heads. East DMC administrator, Shafiqur Rehman, confirmed that they are still responsible for garbage collection.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd,  2016.