New landfill site project for twin cities hits roadblock

Project also aimed to produce 18MW of electricity by recycling waste

RAWALPINDI:

Work on a new landfill for the twin cities on Mandra-Chakwal Road has hit a snag as the Rawalpindi Waste Management Company could not get possession of the land despite a payment of Rs900 million to the revenue department.

Earlier, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) had been finalised between the Capital Development Authority and the Rawalpindi Waste Management Company (RWMC) for a landfill site for the disposal of waste.

The project also aimed to generate 18 megawatts of electricity by recycling solid waste, which also aimed to deal with environmental pollution.

The RWMC had agreed to allocate 400-kanal of land to the CDA for the landfill site.

The land measuring 1,265 Kanals on Mandra Chakwal Road at village Bagnial, DeraPothi, and Sahang Tehsil Gujjar Khan has been acquired for this purpose.

The land was located almost six-kilometre down from GT Road on Mandra Chakwal Road and at a distance of 55 kilometres from the city.

Source said that no progress could be made on the project as the RWMC did not get possession of the land.

On the other hand, the capacity for dumping waste at the landfill site at Losar adjacent to GT Road has also filled to the capacity.

The RWMC collects about 850 tons of solid waste daily from Rawalpindi city and its surroundings and transfers it to the open dumping point landfill site at Loser. Solid waste is transferred to this landfill site which has almost exhausted its capacity.

Around Rs290 million had previously been estimated for alternative landfill sites. However, even before payments were made to land owners when funds were with the revenue department, it was revealed that the land had been overvalued and the payments were withheld.

According to a new estimate, the value of the land was fixed at only Rs900 million. Sources said that Rs180 million had been returned to the RWMC after making fresh estimates for the purchase of land for the project. The sum of Rs90 million for purchasing the land for the project is still with the revenue department and payments were yet to be made to the land owners.

RWMC General Manager Operations Hasnain Ahmed said that possession of the said land has not yet been given to RWMC and they were facing problems in starting work of the project.

He said that as soon as possession of the land was given to the RWMC, an incinerator will be installed to generate 18 megawatts of electricity per day. The electricity will cater to the needs of electricity of Rawalpindi.

On the other hand, the recycling process will also produce green waste which can be used for fertilizers.

The recycling solid waste facility will also help overcome environmental pollution.

On the other hand, 850 tons of solid waste is collected daily from the garrison city and 1000 tons from Rawalpindi and Chaklala Cantonment areas. The waste is transported to the open lead fill site at Adiala Road and Chakri Road. Transferring the waste to the landfill site not causes environmental pollution, but due to the non-safe transfer of this solid waste, solid waste spills on the roads in Cantonment areas. Cantonment board sources said that they were trying their best for the safe transfer of solid waste to the landfill site.

Earlier, the CDA had planned a landfill site in Sangjani but during a public hearing conducted by Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) a few months ago people living in the adjoining areas, including B-17, raised objections and requested the agency to relocate the site to protect them from its hazardous impact.

The capital, which generates over 600 tonnes of waste every day, has been without a permanent landfill site, leaving the civic agency with no option but to dump garbage in the underdeveloped I-12 sector where the CDA has already allotted thousands of plots and would begin development in the next few months.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2022.