A tussle between the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) and foreign contractors has turned many areas of the provincial metropolis into garbage dumps.
The situation has developed as the contractual term of the Turkish contractors is about to end and the government has indicated that it will not renew their contract.
Heaps of waste are witnessed in almost all areas of the provincial capital as the contractors have pull back their machinery from the field because their contract is expiring on December 31.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, a spokesperson for the LWMC disclosed that after expiry of the contract with the Turkish firms, the company has decided to acquire waste collection services locally. The company’s board has decided to make interim arrangements for waste collection through rental equipment. Meanwhile, it will initiate tendering process for hiring new contractors.
As per government directions, the company has decided to outsource waste collection services to local vendors, he highlighted. “Currently the company has to pay $18 per tonne to Turkish contractors and following increase in dollar rate it has got really expensive. Several local groups have consented to lift solid waste at Rs2,200 per tonne, which will help the country to save precious foreign exchange,” he maintained.
Responding to a question, the spokesperson said the company’s board had decided to clear the waste collection backlog in the next couple of days and make arrangements for an interim period of three to four months.
Earlier, the provincial metropolis was divided in two zones in which Turkish companies Albayrak and Ozpak were lifting solid waste. Now the company has decided to segregate the city into nine zones to encourage competition and ensure better cleanliness as around 5,000 tonnes of solid waste is generated every day.
He further pointed out that the company requires efficient machinery to handle solid waste on a daily basis. Despite repeated instructions, the contractors did not upgrade their equipment, which was another reason of poor performance and untidiness in the city, he added.
On Monday, Lahore Division Commissioner Zulfiqar Ahmad Ghumman directed the LWMC to take over the waste collection operations. He said the district administration will provide all possible support to the LWMC for completing the waste collection task. He also directed the LWMC management to call an urgent board meeting for making effective planning to handle solid waste during the interim period.
The LWMC had already given notices to the contractors to return machinery and other assets by the end of their contractual term. However, both contractors have claimed millions of rupees of outstanding invoices.
Answering another question, the LWMC spokesperson said the company is paying salaries to over 15,000 sanitary workers who transport waste from the roads and streets to bins and containers. The company will not have any issue in waste collection and dumping at landfill sites when it gets rental equipment for lifting it. He pointed out that the contractors were also using rental machinery that would be available to the LWMC for the interim period.
He underlined that not renewing the contracts would help the country save money.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 16th, 2020.
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