‘Trash’ talk: KMC no longer responsible for city’s garbage

New waste management board to transfer municipal functions to private bidders

KARACHI: The collection, recycling and treatment of garbage in Karachi is no longer the responsibility of the city municipal corporation and will be carried out by a private company by November this year.

On Thursday, the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board — which falls under the direct control of Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah — was formally made functional during a seminar at Federation House Clifton.

The board will complete the process of handing out contracts to companies that bid to pick up the city’s garbage by the end of November. The board also proposed a comprehensive plan to save the city’s waste during the seminar, which was attended by members of the civil society, academia and the business community.

The board’s managing director, Roshan Ali Shaikh, said they have formed the plan after looking at past studies and designs carried out by consultants. “The project aims to improve the collection, transportation, treatment and disposal of municipal solid waste in Karachi,” he said. He added that the board intends to outsource these functions to private operators after international competitive bidding.



“Private operators will bridge the existing gap in capacity and infrastructure,” he pointed out. It will, in turn, improve the door-to-door collection along with the transfer of waste to communal bins.”

The board will also establish the much-needed garbage transfer stations and materialise recovery facilities is each district of the city, said Shaikh. “The establishment of these stations will minimise the hauling distance to landfill sites,” he said.

The board will also undertake detailed engineering design and environment impact assessments of all the proposed projects. Foreign and local investment will be attracted for waste-to-energy projects, such as plasma gasification, anaerobic digestion, composting for bio-processing of waste, etc, he added.

“In short, the board will launch an integrated solid waste management plan for Karachi to reduce the operation cost, introduce efficient management contracts and generate revenue from recycling,” said Shaikh.

According to Shaikh, the residents will now be paying the money they paid their local sweeper to the board instead.

Time will tell

The elaborate plans shared by Shaikh failed to impress urban planner Arif Hasan, who felt such projects sound better than they really are. “Such lavish projects have been initiated in the past but, unfortunately, they failed as there was no consultation with the people,” he said. “I wish this programme is successful but the government must keep it free of corruption and manage it after considering the ground realities of our city.” Hasan felt the board should keep the garbage collection rates affordable for everyone.

NGO Shehri — Citizens for a Better Environment’s Roland deSouza felt little will change by transferring authority from the city-level to the provincial-level. Earlier, the government made the Sindh Building Control Authority by abolishing the Karachi Building Control Authority but the matters did not improve, he told The Express Tribune.

“We will [have to wait and] see what effect [the new board has] on the collection of garbage after making it a provincial subject,” he said, adding that it seemed the government wants to grab hold of all the city’s resources before they announce the local bodies elections.

Too much waste

Meanwhile, commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui shed some light on the amount of waste the city generates. “The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and the district municipal corporations (DMCs) are spending Rs3.5 billion a year, yet the waste collection and disposal is well below satisfactory levels,” he said.

The seminar was also attended by Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, who heads the solid waste management board. “The board will gradually take over specific functions from the KMC and the DMCs,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2015.