LWMC eyes Rs6b garbage tax

Business plan to be submitted to chief minister for approval

LAHORE:

The Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC), which spends Rs14 billion annually to keep the city clean, has formulated a business plan to meet its expenses by imposing garbage tax on residential and commercial properties. The proposal will be implemented after approval of the Punjab government.

LWMC officials believe that with over Rs6 billion raised annually under the business plan, the company would be able to become financially self-sufficient.

Lahore Waste Management Company Chief Executive Officer Rafia Haider told The Express Tribune that Punjab government was providing resources for cleaning the streets and roads of the city and dispose of the garbage.

“We have prepared a business plan to reduce the cost and increase revenue by collecting garbage tax so that the company can stand on its own feet. The plan is to collect garbage tax from the rich and middle class residents. There will be no garbage tax on poor people and dwellers of slum areas,” she said.

The LWMC business plan will be sent to the Punjab chief minister for approval after its endorsement in a board meeting of the company.

CEO Rafia Haider said the proposal would be implemented after the approval. She said the sanitation system in the city was improving. About 6,000 tons of garbage is collected daily from the city

The company was established after separating its functions from the metropolitan corporation. Foreign companies were hired to clean up the city, pick up the trash and take it to the dumping point for more than seven years. More than Rs70 billion was spent on the operation during the period.

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However, the waste management company could not accumulate any assets despite spending the huge amount. Therefore, on the directives of the Punjab government, it took over the operation after terminating the contract with the foreign companies.

It bought more than 250 vehicles at a cost of millions of rupees and started the primary work of cleaning the city itself with the help of those and old vehicles.

The responsibility of disposal of garbage has been given on subcontract.

The LWMC spends about Rs14 billion annually. The Punjab government, in addition to the payment of salaries, gives more than Rs6 billion to the company in interest-free loan. However, no plan had so far been prepared for its repayment.

Now the company has formulated a business plan to collect additional Rs6 billion with permission of the Punjab government from the owners of private residential and commercial areas.

According to the proposal, the population of Lahore city is close to 11.2 million, on whom the tax will be imposed.

The LWMC has reportedly obtained all the property tax record from the excise and taxation department. The waste management company will collect waste tax for the residential and commercial premises for which the excise department is collecting tax.

The premises are divided into three categories. Category A includes Gulberg, Liberty, Shadman, Shah Jamal, Model Town, Johar Town, Montgomery Road, Fleming Road, Cooper Road, Davis Road and Empress Road. Category B includes New Chauburji, Bilal Ganj, Data Darbar, Green Town, Mughalpura, Nolakha Bazaar, China Scheme and Shah Alam Market, while Model Colony, Nolakha Colony, Mustafaabad, Naseerabad, Shahdara and low income areas are in Category C.

Depending on the size of the houses in the areas, the tax will be Rs100 to Rs600 per month, while the levy for commercial premises will be Rs2,000 to Rs5,000.

Garbage tax of Rs1,500 to Rs3,000 will be imposed in industrial areas. Cottage industries will be charged Rs 400 to Rs1,000 per month. The record of the excise department shows that there are 565,355 residential, commercial and industrial units on which garbage tax will be imposed.

However, there are also more than 250 slum areas or informal settlements in Lahore. The garbage tax will not be collected from the residents of those areas.

In an earlier meeting, the LWMC Board of Governors called for further deliberations on the proposal.

In view of the instructions, LWMC officials have prepared the business plan, which will be presented again in a board meeting.