Five firms are vying for a project to manage solid waste in big cities of Punjab, including Rawalpindi, sources in the provincial government told The Express Tribune on Tuesday. They submitted their bidding documents in Lahore on Monday.
If all goes according to plan, one of the private firms will be awarded the contract to sweep, collect and dispose of solid waste, like it is done in Lahore.
Pre-qualification bids were opened by the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) in the presence of representatives of solid waste management departments from Rawalpindi, Multan, Faisalabad and Gujranwala. A local firm and four Turkish companies participated in the pre-qualification bids.
After satisfactory performance of the two Turkish firms in managing solid waste in Lahore, the government decided to outsource solid waste management in big cities to private contractors.
The district coordination officer (DCO) of the respective city has the final authority to reject or accept the pre-qualification details of the five companies in line with recommendations by a LWMC consultant.
Solid waste administrators in Rawalpindi have been facing problems in desilting drains and disposal of solid waste but the plan does not include the twin menace.
Approximately, 800 tons of solid waste is collected by the municipal department every day from Rawalpindi and transported to Losar, a landfill site near Rawat.
The city district government would pay the contractor for every ton of waste collected in accordance with the rates proposed by the consultant.
Sanitary staff of Rawalpindi solid waste management department, however, expressed their concern about the hiring of a private contractor for waste management that would render them jobless.
Municipal Labour Union General Secretary Pervaiz Cheeda said sanitary workers were fearful about their jobs.
He said the department had 1,553 sanitary workers, 53 drivers, 50 supervisers, nine sanitary inspectors and four chief sanitary inspectors for four different sectors of the city to manage waste collection and transportation.
When contacted, Municipal Services Executive District Officer Muhammad Imtiaz Malik said Rawalpindi DCO had already assured the sanitary workers of job security.
All staffers were working with the company In Lahore and it is expected that the contractor may hire more staff to improve performance in Rawalpindi, the official added.
Replying to a question, he said the contractor would bring in the latest cleaning equipment which would also be used by the district government.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 8th, 2012.
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