Trash talk: Garbage dump plans lying in the gutter
Shelved after litigation from locals, Kuri plan is on hold while no alternatives have been worked out.
CDA records shows that the volume of waste generated within the municipal limits of Islamabad ranges between 750 to 800 tons per day. PHOTO: AFP
ISLAMABAD:
It was 2010 when the Capital Development Authority first floated the idea to establish a landfill near Kuri village with a resolve that the civic body would soon identify an appropriate site.
But today, no site has been identified by the city managers, nor do they seem interested in doing so.
“The 2006 to 2008 time frame was an appropriate time for the establishment of facility. Finances were available, while the capital was developing at fast pace in terms of cosmetic development,” said a top official of solid waste management wing wishing not to be named. At present, the civic body management lacks not only resolve, but also the finances, he said.
CDA records based on the Waste Characterization Study for 2006, which was last updated by the Authority in early 2012, shows that the volume of waste generated within the municipal limits of Islamabad ranges between 750 to 800 tons per day with an average of 1.896 kg per house per day to 4.29 kg per house per day with a particular trend of waste generation according to socioeconomic conditions.
The waste generated includes municipal, kitchen, green, domestic waste, commercial, building material and other scrap.
There is substantial variation in the quantum of waste generated from various sectors. Sector G-6 alone generates 82.8 tons of waste per day, while Sectors E-8 produces 1.2 tons per day.
The CDA Sanitation Directorate provides sanitation services within its municipal limits, namely Zone-I, which stretches over an area of 54,958 acres. Zone-I has further been divided in three roughly equal zones to properly administer the areas.
The Rs1 billion project to properly dispose of the capital’s waste turned controversial after local residents and some little-known environmentalists, allegedly on the behest of private land developers, resisted the idea, terming the site as inappropriate for the purpose.
This is despite the fact that the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency has issued a No Objection Certificate to the CDA for the landfill project to be built on 100 acres.
Ever since the resistance efforts, the authority has been dumping city waste at different locations and never bothered to suggest a suitable site for a proper landfill. The CDA dumped waste in Sector G-10 for a while, but shifted to Sector I-12after local residents moved the Islamabad High Court.
“Kuri landfill was designed according to the US EPA standards after conducting through scientific studies and duly considering the technical, social and environmental aspects of the project,” CDA Spokesperson Ramzan Sajid said. He said the authority only dropped the idea after enormous resistance and litigation from locals.
When asked about the identification of a new site for the landfill project, Sajid said the authority was trying to relocate the site, but so far a specific area had not been identified for the purpose.
In the past, the CDA had marked some land near sectors I-15 and I-16, but this idea was also dropped later, he added. He said if the CDA manages to establish such a facility anywhere in Islamabad or outside, it would certainly improve the capital’s environment.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 4th, 2013.
It was 2010 when the Capital Development Authority first floated the idea to establish a landfill near Kuri village with a resolve that the civic body would soon identify an appropriate site.
But today, no site has been identified by the city managers, nor do they seem interested in doing so.
“The 2006 to 2008 time frame was an appropriate time for the establishment of facility. Finances were available, while the capital was developing at fast pace in terms of cosmetic development,” said a top official of solid waste management wing wishing not to be named. At present, the civic body management lacks not only resolve, but also the finances, he said.
CDA records based on the Waste Characterization Study for 2006, which was last updated by the Authority in early 2012, shows that the volume of waste generated within the municipal limits of Islamabad ranges between 750 to 800 tons per day with an average of 1.896 kg per house per day to 4.29 kg per house per day with a particular trend of waste generation according to socioeconomic conditions.
The waste generated includes municipal, kitchen, green, domestic waste, commercial, building material and other scrap.
There is substantial variation in the quantum of waste generated from various sectors. Sector G-6 alone generates 82.8 tons of waste per day, while Sectors E-8 produces 1.2 tons per day.
The CDA Sanitation Directorate provides sanitation services within its municipal limits, namely Zone-I, which stretches over an area of 54,958 acres. Zone-I has further been divided in three roughly equal zones to properly administer the areas.
The Rs1 billion project to properly dispose of the capital’s waste turned controversial after local residents and some little-known environmentalists, allegedly on the behest of private land developers, resisted the idea, terming the site as inappropriate for the purpose.
This is despite the fact that the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency has issued a No Objection Certificate to the CDA for the landfill project to be built on 100 acres.
Ever since the resistance efforts, the authority has been dumping city waste at different locations and never bothered to suggest a suitable site for a proper landfill. The CDA dumped waste in Sector G-10 for a while, but shifted to Sector I-12after local residents moved the Islamabad High Court.
“Kuri landfill was designed according to the US EPA standards after conducting through scientific studies and duly considering the technical, social and environmental aspects of the project,” CDA Spokesperson Ramzan Sajid said. He said the authority only dropped the idea after enormous resistance and litigation from locals.
When asked about the identification of a new site for the landfill project, Sajid said the authority was trying to relocate the site, but so far a specific area had not been identified for the purpose.
In the past, the CDA had marked some land near sectors I-15 and I-16, but this idea was also dropped later, he added. He said if the CDA manages to establish such a facility anywhere in Islamabad or outside, it would certainly improve the capital’s environment.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 4th, 2013.