LWMC set to take over city’s waste removal

LAHORE:

Differences have emerged between the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) and the bureaucracy over whether to outsource the waste disposal work in the city.

A few days are left of the agreement with foreign companies but no decision has been taken regarding the continuation of the service in the city and the payment of the arrears. The confusion may lead to worsening of the situation in the coming days. Prime Minister Imran Khan and Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar have also been informed about the matter.

The cleaning and garbage collection operation in Lahore was assigned to foreign companies during the tenure of former chief minister Shehbaz Sharif and it was agreed that they would be paid $18 per tonne of garbage collected. The dollar was worth around Rs70 at the time, which has now reached Rs160 and the LWMC is obliged to implement the agreement.

More than Rs320 billion has been paid in seven years under the agreement with the foreign companies. Before giving the contract, the Metropolitan Corporation used to carry out sanitation work in the city at an annual cost of Rs2.5 billion, but now it is costing Rs14 billion and complaints about the service are also common.

The seven-year contract with the Turkish companies will expire on December 31.

According to sources, as the expiry of the contract neared, a mafia allegedly having links with influential persons did not allow any officer of the waste management company opposing the outsourcing to stay on his post. During one year, four managing directors and three deputy MDs of the company were replaced. Malik Riaz, a chairman of the company, also resigned.

Chief Minister Buzdar has appointed Malik Amjad Noon, a former district Nazim of Sargodha, as LWMC Chairman, who reviewed the situation along with Chief Executive Officer Imran Sultan after taking over the charge.

It was decided in a meeting of the board of directors that the LWMC will do the cleaning and garbage collection work itself.

Taking over the sanitation system will help save over Rs1.5 billion per month and the acquisition of vehicles and equipment will increase the assets of the LWMC.

The LWMC has about 14,000 employees, including officers, office staff, drivers and sanitary workers, along with more than 800 vehicles.

The CEO and chairman of the company, in accordance with the decisions of the board of directors, invited tenders from national companies for garbage collection for six months and set aside Rs110 billion for the operation for the next seven years.

Meanwhile, the contractors are reluctant to pick up garbage from the city due to non-extension of the contract. Employees went on strike after the finance department withheld payments and garbage piled up in the city.

The source said the company also informed the provincial local bodies secretary and commissioner and deputy commissioner of Lahore about the situation so that in case of taking over the sanitation system after December 31, a solution to possible problems could be worked out. However, the commissioner and deputy commissioner issued instructions to keep the city clean.

Two meetings, presided over by the secretary, were held, where officers of the LWMC were reprimanded. The sources said the CEO left a meeting with the intention to resign, but the chairman sent a letter to the prime minister and chief minister about the expected problems in the city in the coming days.

The ongoing problems regarding the arrears of the contractors and continuation of the service have created problems for the citizens due to lack of removal of waste from several areas.

LWMC Chairman Amjad Noon told The Express Tribune that the company was working hard to maintain cleanliness in Lahore and avoid loss to the national treasury but a mafia was creating obstacles. PM Imran Khan and Punjab CM Usman Buzdar have been informed about the situation through a letter. He said more problems might arise if the issues were not resolved soon.

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 21^st, 2020.