Solid waste: CDA balks at suggestion of outsourcing collection
Climate ministry suggested using Lahore model, but higher costs worry civic agency.
The Ministry of Climate Change has been pursuing this matter with the federal capital’s civic agency, it has been learnt.
ISLAMABAD:
High interest is being shown in some quarters to establish a waste management company for the capital and then outsource waste management to a firm, similar to Lahore and Rawalpindi.
Turkish firm Albayrak has contracts for waste management in the Punjab capital and Islamabad’s neighbour.
The Ministry of Climate Change has been pursuing this matter with the federal capital’s civic agency, it has been learnt.
A meeting to this effect was held on Tuesday at the ministry’s office, headed by Climate Change Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan. In it, the CDA gave a detailed presentation on the current state of solid waste management in Islamabad.
“During the meeting, the idea of contracting out solid waste collection in Islamabad was strongly opposed by the CDA, primarily due to the financial implications of the exercise,” said a senior Climate Change official who attended the meeting.
According to initial arrangements, Islamabad Waste Management Company (IWMC) would be established under the Companies Ordinance as a non-profit limited company.
“All the functions and assets of the CDA solid waste management directorate would be entrusted to IWMC, and after its formation, an agreement would be undertaken with a foreign firm for waste collection in Islamabad,” confided the official.
Cost issues
During the presentation, the CDA informed that under its ‘in-house’ arrangement, waste collection and transportation to designated disposal sites costs the CDA approximately US$3 per ton, while, using the example of Albayrak in Lahore, they said the Turkish firm was disposing of garbage for US$28 per ton.
“The great disparity between costs will wreck havoc on CDA finances and raise transparency issues,” commented a senior CDA officer.
He said the city does not need contractors for waste collection, as the CDA had an effective sanitation wing, which is capable of responding to 80 per cent of garbage-related complaints from city residents within an hour of complaint registration.
The officer added that the CDA had been informed that US$28 would be charged only for waste collection and transportation, with additional charges for mechanical sweeping and washing of roads.
“There is a need to establish some new departments, but these should replace poor performers rather than those doing well,” the official added.
According to CDA statistics, Islamabad generates around 600 tons of garbage every day. The CDA collects and transport around 80 per cent of the generated garbage to a dump in Sector I-12 using its fleet of 44 vehicles including 12 refuse packers, nine skip lifters and 23 dumpers.
The civic agency has outsourced cleaning of six residential sectors including sectors G-6, G-7, G-8, G-9, G-10 and I-10 to private contractors.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Climate Change Secretary Khan said the CDA was an independent and autonomous organisation which takes decisions freely, and that the Ministry of Climate Change could not force it to take and decision on waste management.
“Our sole concern is heaps of garbage in the city, are eyesores and bad for the environment,” Khan said, adding that untreated medical and other hazardous waste was causing environmental degradation, which is a serious cause of concern for the ministry.
“We can only urge them to find suitable ways to manage the city’s waste,” Khan said.
CDA spokesperson Ramzan Sajid said there was a scheduled meeting, but he did not have details of the agenda.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 6th, 2015.
High interest is being shown in some quarters to establish a waste management company for the capital and then outsource waste management to a firm, similar to Lahore and Rawalpindi.
Turkish firm Albayrak has contracts for waste management in the Punjab capital and Islamabad’s neighbour.
The Ministry of Climate Change has been pursuing this matter with the federal capital’s civic agency, it has been learnt.
A meeting to this effect was held on Tuesday at the ministry’s office, headed by Climate Change Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan. In it, the CDA gave a detailed presentation on the current state of solid waste management in Islamabad.
“During the meeting, the idea of contracting out solid waste collection in Islamabad was strongly opposed by the CDA, primarily due to the financial implications of the exercise,” said a senior Climate Change official who attended the meeting.
According to initial arrangements, Islamabad Waste Management Company (IWMC) would be established under the Companies Ordinance as a non-profit limited company.
“All the functions and assets of the CDA solid waste management directorate would be entrusted to IWMC, and after its formation, an agreement would be undertaken with a foreign firm for waste collection in Islamabad,” confided the official.
Cost issues
During the presentation, the CDA informed that under its ‘in-house’ arrangement, waste collection and transportation to designated disposal sites costs the CDA approximately US$3 per ton, while, using the example of Albayrak in Lahore, they said the Turkish firm was disposing of garbage for US$28 per ton.
“The great disparity between costs will wreck havoc on CDA finances and raise transparency issues,” commented a senior CDA officer.
He said the city does not need contractors for waste collection, as the CDA had an effective sanitation wing, which is capable of responding to 80 per cent of garbage-related complaints from city residents within an hour of complaint registration.
The officer added that the CDA had been informed that US$28 would be charged only for waste collection and transportation, with additional charges for mechanical sweeping and washing of roads.
“There is a need to establish some new departments, but these should replace poor performers rather than those doing well,” the official added.
According to CDA statistics, Islamabad generates around 600 tons of garbage every day. The CDA collects and transport around 80 per cent of the generated garbage to a dump in Sector I-12 using its fleet of 44 vehicles including 12 refuse packers, nine skip lifters and 23 dumpers.
The civic agency has outsourced cleaning of six residential sectors including sectors G-6, G-7, G-8, G-9, G-10 and I-10 to private contractors.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Climate Change Secretary Khan said the CDA was an independent and autonomous organisation which takes decisions freely, and that the Ministry of Climate Change could not force it to take and decision on waste management.
“Our sole concern is heaps of garbage in the city, are eyesores and bad for the environment,” Khan said, adding that untreated medical and other hazardous waste was causing environmental degradation, which is a serious cause of concern for the ministry.
“We can only urge them to find suitable ways to manage the city’s waste,” Khan said.
CDA spokesperson Ramzan Sajid said there was a scheduled meeting, but he did not have details of the agenda.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 6th, 2015.