Waste disposal: Turkish firm takes charge of Pindi garbage

Company starts work in five union councils.

RAWALPINDI: A Turkish firm on Monday took charge of waste disposal in five union councils (UC) of Rawalpindi. 

Al Buraq has started waste collection in union councils 74, 75, 76, 77 and 78 with eight garbage compactors and 15 mini dumpers.

Rawalpindi Waste Management Company (RWMC) Managing Director (MD) Irfan Ahmad Qureshi told The Express Tribune that the company would work in five UCs for 10 days as a regulation period, after which it would take over all 63 UCs in a phased process over the next six months. Of these 63 UCs, 46 are in Rawal Town and 16 in Potohar Town.

Qureshi said that the company had already started work in Muree and waste from the hill station was being transported to Losar landfill near Rawat. According to an estimate, almost 65 tons of waste from Muree is being transported to the landfill every day.

The company will work in collaboration with the RWMC. The Turkish company has also brought modern waste disposal machinery which would be handed over to RWMC after the end of its seven-year contract. The company will also train and manage RWMC staff during the duration of the contract, Qureshi said. The firm would also carry out mechanical washing and sweeping of the roads.

It will soon start door-to-door collection of waste in each UC. The waste would be transported to Losar, some 27 kilometres from Rawalpindi city.

The MD also revealed that there were some problems in arranging parking areas for the company’s dump trucks, but it has now been given parking space near the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) offices.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3^rd, 2014.