What a waste! Sindh govt considering shutting down waste management board

Solid waste management likely to be handed over to respective DMCs again

KARACHI: The Sindh Government, it seems, has finally conceded its failure in cleaning the port city and is likely to disband the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB), less than four years into its existence. Dismayed by the situation, the local government minister, Saeed Ghani, has hinted at handing over the responsibility of garbage collection and solid waste management back to the respective district municipal corporations (DMCs).

SSWMB

In 2014, the Sindh Assembly passed the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board Act, under which a board was to be formed for the collection and disposal of solid and other waste in the province. The board was formally constituted in 2015 and was given the charge of four of six districts of Karachi. These included districts South, East, West and Malir. The remaining two districts - Korangi and Central - chose to keep the responsibility to themselves.

During the almost three years of its existence, the Sindh government pumped billions of rupees into the SSWMB and contracted out the responsibility of solid waste collection and disposal to private firms. According to a  municipal official, who asked not to named, the SSWMB was given Rs2 billion annually. This amounts to a staggering Rs6 billion over three years.

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Two Chinese firms were awarded contracts to collect the garbage and sweep the streets in two DMCs each. The firms pledged to wash the streets, initiate door-to-door collection of solid waste and install waste bins equipped with microchips for monitoring on every street and major thoroughfare. Most of the promises were never fulfilled and the city soon began wearing the look of an overflowing garbage dump.

In the first year, the Chinese company, Changyi Kangjie Sanitation Engineering Pakistan, was contracted to lift the garbage in districts East and South charged the SSWMB $29 per ton. The other firm, Jin Jiang Hang Zou Sanitation Engineering Pakistan, charged $19 per ton for picking up garbage from districts West and Malir. These rates were later revised to $16 per ton. This is still exponentially higher than the Rs320 per ton charged by local contractors.

Even after charging the exorbitant amount, hardly 7,000 tons of the over 12,000 tons of solid waste generated by the city was lifted every day.

Rolling back

Dismayed at the board's modus operandi and the apathetic attitude of the contractors, the Sindh government is now considering handing over the responsibility of garbage collection back to the respective DMCs.

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In a special meeting convened to discuss the issue of solid waste management last week, the Sindh chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had directed the local government department and SSWMB to to cancel the contracts of those private firms that had failed to deliver, besides urging the LG department to remove inefficient and lethargic municipal commissioners from the DMCs.

Labour Union leader Zulfiqar Shah confirmed to The Express Tribune that LG minister Saeed Ghani has hinted at disbanding the SSWMB for good. Shah added that the board has done nothing but ruin the system of solid waste management in the city. "The Sindh government has been paying the SSWMB Rs2 billion a year," said Shah. "For half this amount, we can do a much better job," he said.

According to an official affiliated with one DMC, the municipal corporations of districts East, West and South have already agreed in principle to assume the responsibility again. The announcement relating to the closure of SSWMB is also expected soon.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2019.