Should Karachi’s garbage collection be privatised?
The 1990s were a good time for solid waste management.
In fact, Prof Noman traced the recent history of KMC’s solid waste management to show that in the late 1990s it still had its act together somewhat. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
KARACHI:
There is at least one example of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation experimenting with the privatisation of garbage collection.
On Friday, Prof Noman Ahmed of NED University’s architecture and planning department shared the case study of Al Khalid Agencies. Its proprietor, Khalid Shaikh, was given the 43-million-rupee contract for solid waste management in Federal B Area and North Karachi in 1998. The idea was that his company would cover 72,000 households and be paid Rs284 per ton of waste. An estimated 420 tons of garbage per day would be collected.
Al Khalid Agencies had about 600 staffers, including 550 sweepers, and they planned to spend one to two minutes per house and work on night collection as well, according to a 1998 UNDP document.
As expected, a lack of proper understanding of garbage collection on KMC and the contractor’s part, led to misunderstandings. KMC accused Al Khalid of only picking construction debris, of which there was a huge backlog in the areas. Prof Noman was asked to help and when he scanned the contract, he found that the contractor was well within his limits because the type of waste was not specified, among other problems. Added to this was the problem of existing municipal sanitation workers feeling threatened given that some of them had developed private arrangements with households. In short, a slew of disagreements led to the termination of the contract and litigation.
But this does not mean that KMC cannot learn from this experience. In fact, Prof Noman traced the recent history of KMC’s solid waste management to show that in the late 1990s it still had its act together somewhat.
In 1992, KMC created its department of solid waste management and four years later appointed an adviser. “There was a reasonable rise in efficiency at the time [the department was created],” recalls Prof Noman. At that time KMC had 567 vehicles and the cost of disposing waste at the landfill sites was Rs92 per ton. There were 4,085 community bins. There were 4,170 sanitation workers, who were on contract. They were mostly from minority communities and with time the pool has shrunk as they have retired.
When it was at its most successful, one-third of Karachi’s municipal staff worked on garbage collection and 25% of its money was spent on sanitation. “It is a very labour intensive enterprise,” says Dr Noman. The majority of it is sweeping and manual with a really small part mechanised.
In 1998, as mentioned above, it made an attempt to privatise solid waste management but it didn’t work out. By the next year though, in 1999, there was a military coup and this new administration tried to engage a US firm to do the job. “But it very sensibly stayed away,” said Prof Noman. The Americans walked away because they very rightly assessed the same problem Al Khalid Agencies had faced: It said that the huge existing force of sanitation workers was the first line of resistance to it being able to do its job.
In 2001, local government was devolved and garbage collection was assigned through the various tiers of union councils, towns and the CDGK. But this system ended in 2009 and since then the Sindh government has vacillated on whether to renew it. In the meantime, Karachi has turned into a garbage dump.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 22nd, 2014.
There is at least one example of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation experimenting with the privatisation of garbage collection.
On Friday, Prof Noman Ahmed of NED University’s architecture and planning department shared the case study of Al Khalid Agencies. Its proprietor, Khalid Shaikh, was given the 43-million-rupee contract for solid waste management in Federal B Area and North Karachi in 1998. The idea was that his company would cover 72,000 households and be paid Rs284 per ton of waste. An estimated 420 tons of garbage per day would be collected.
Al Khalid Agencies had about 600 staffers, including 550 sweepers, and they planned to spend one to two minutes per house and work on night collection as well, according to a 1998 UNDP document.
As expected, a lack of proper understanding of garbage collection on KMC and the contractor’s part, led to misunderstandings. KMC accused Al Khalid of only picking construction debris, of which there was a huge backlog in the areas. Prof Noman was asked to help and when he scanned the contract, he found that the contractor was well within his limits because the type of waste was not specified, among other problems. Added to this was the problem of existing municipal sanitation workers feeling threatened given that some of them had developed private arrangements with households. In short, a slew of disagreements led to the termination of the contract and litigation.
But this does not mean that KMC cannot learn from this experience. In fact, Prof Noman traced the recent history of KMC’s solid waste management to show that in the late 1990s it still had its act together somewhat.
In 1992, KMC created its department of solid waste management and four years later appointed an adviser. “There was a reasonable rise in efficiency at the time [the department was created],” recalls Prof Noman. At that time KMC had 567 vehicles and the cost of disposing waste at the landfill sites was Rs92 per ton. There were 4,085 community bins. There were 4,170 sanitation workers, who were on contract. They were mostly from minority communities and with time the pool has shrunk as they have retired.
When it was at its most successful, one-third of Karachi’s municipal staff worked on garbage collection and 25% of its money was spent on sanitation. “It is a very labour intensive enterprise,” says Dr Noman. The majority of it is sweeping and manual with a really small part mechanised.
In 1998, as mentioned above, it made an attempt to privatise solid waste management but it didn’t work out. By the next year though, in 1999, there was a military coup and this new administration tried to engage a US firm to do the job. “But it very sensibly stayed away,” said Prof Noman. The Americans walked away because they very rightly assessed the same problem Al Khalid Agencies had faced: It said that the huge existing force of sanitation workers was the first line of resistance to it being able to do its job.
In 2001, local government was devolved and garbage collection was assigned through the various tiers of union councils, towns and the CDGK. But this system ended in 2009 and since then the Sindh government has vacillated on whether to renew it. In the meantime, Karachi has turned into a garbage dump.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 22nd, 2014.