Hyderabad gets official landfill site

KARACHI:

Sindh’s second-largest city, Hyderabad, where around 2.2m people reside, generates 1,000 to 1,200 tonnes of waste daily and yet, it is only recently that the first officially designated landfill site has been set up there.

In fact, according to a senior Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) official, Hyderabad is the first city of the province to have a designated site for solid waste disposal.

SSWMB Hyderabad Executive Director Nisar Ahmed Soomro told The Express Tribune that now, after the establishment of this site, would be the first time that the city’s waste would be lifted and transported to a designated site. “We are not only lifting fresh waste, but also clearing heaps of garbage that has piled up over the years,” he said, referring to the various unofficial dumping grounds in the city.

The landfill site is located some 27 kilometres away from the main city and in the first phase, the SSWMB is collecting garbage from different locations and bringing it to the designated site. Around 1,000 tonnes of waste is lifted daily and since June 14, over 35,000 tonnes of garbage has been brought to the site. The garbage was collected from the dumping grounds of three municipal committees - Hyderabad, Qasimabad and Kotri.

The designated site, sprawling over 100 acres of land, was allotted on December 12, 2018, but it was only handed over to the authorities in June 2021. SSWMB teams start operations at 7am and continue their work till 7pm each day. “In the second phase, we will lift waste from door to door,” said Soomro, adding that energy would be produced from the trash collected in the third phase.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, former local government minister Jam Khan Shoro said that proper dumping sites would change the face of Sindh. Shoro, who was elected to the Sindh Assembly from Hyderabad’s PS-62 - Qasimabad, added that various public and private plots in the city were previously being used as dumping grounds.

“There were piles of garbage everywhere but now the face of the city will change,” he said optimistically. Apparent negligence Shoro’s remarks pointed to the menace of improper waste disposal that has plagued major cities of Sindh in recent years. The SSWMB was established in February 2014 with the aim to build a proper mechanism for solid waste disposal across the province. And yet, till last month there was reportedly no officially designated landfill site in any of Sindh’s cities.

The municipal authorities simply take the garbage out to unofficial dumping grounds. “This is the common practice everywhere...to set the waste on fire,” said Soomro. This hazardous practice will come to an end with proper designated sites, he added.

While different municipalities, including those of Larkana, Sukkur, Nawabshah, Mirpurkhas, have proposed landfill sites, Hyderabad is the only district where such a site has been designated and operations have been initiated, added Soomro. In the aftermath of the 2019 rains, which had devastated Karachi and the heaps of garbage rotting at its various locations, clogging its drains were identified as causes that contributed to the urban flooding, the provincial government had proposed a third landfill site for the city.

Then local government secretary Roshan Ali Shaikh had claimed that there were two landfill sites, namely Jam Chakro and Gond Pass, for the garbage collected in Karachi daily. There are garbage transfer stations built at various locations as well and temporary transfer stations have also been set up for the provincial government’s ‘Clean My Karachi’ campaign, he had said.

The third landfill site was to be established on 3,000 acres of land at the Dhabeji site. However, according to Soomro, none of these sites have been officially designated as landfill sites as yet. The summary for the third site proposed has been submitted to the chief minister but the land has not been allotted as yet, he added.

Green areas

Meanwhile, Shoro remarked that unofficial dumping grounds have ruined the visual aesthetics of cities.

Now, all such government plots that were being used as dumping sites will be turned into green sports, he added. Confirming this, Qasimabad Municipal Officer Hatim Ali Mallah said that one such unofficial dumping ground near Bhittaiabad has almost entirely been cleared and the site will be turned into an urban forest.

There was nearly 6,000 tonnes of garbage there and now 2,000 trees will be planted there instead, he said. “Roughly 75 percent [of the garbage] has been lifted.