Chinese, Spanish firms to collect Karachi garbage from next month

The Sindh government, through Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB), has signed two separate agreements of solid waste management operation with Chinese and Spanish firms to lifting and dumping 3500 tons of garbage from districts, Korangi and Central from the second week of August. This emerged on Monday when Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presided over a joint meeting of the officials of Chinese firm M/s Gansu and Spanish firm M/s Urbaser here at CM House where an operation agreement was also signed. The meeting was attended by Minister Local Government Nasir Shah, Advisor law Murtaza Wahab, Consul General, of China Mr Li Bijian, Commissioner Karachi Naveed Shaikh, Administrator KMC Laiq Ahmed, Special Secretary Local Government Khalid Chachar, CEO Spanish Firm Urbaser Jaime Martin, CEO of Chinese firm Gansu Mr Liu Dongwaei, CEO Gansu Pakistan Mr Liu Tao, MD Sindh Solids Waste Management Board Zubair Channa and other departments concerned. Under the agreement the Chinese firm would install a 40-MW waste-to-energy plant and also establish another plant to produce solid waste management related machinery in Karachi. The meeting was told that the solid waste management operation for District Korangi has been assigned to a Chinese Firm Gansu. Korangi district generates 1920 tons of garbage daily. The Chinese firm would deploy 2000 sanitary workers and mobilize 500 sanitary machinery in the district to collect and dump the garbage at landfill sites. Korangi Industrial area will have a special mechanism to clean the area. The company would set up a complaint Cell to receive and address public complaints in the district. The Chinese company would also install a 40 MW waste-to-energy power plant at landfill site to generate electricity. The company would be given a separate contract for the purpose. The chief minister termed installation of waste-to-energy project a historic achievement. He added that the credit of generating power from Thar coal was the biggest achievement of the Sindh government and now it was achieving another milestone. The Chinese firm, Gansu Heavy Industry, the mother organization of the Gansu Pakistan also announced to establish an industrial plant to produce waste management related machinery such as trollies, dustbins, garbage binding system and such others. This industrial unit would also generate employment opportunities in the city. The Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) signed a solid waste operational agreement with Spanish firm M/s Urbaser for district Central. It is the first company operating solid waste management in European countries. District Central generates 1920 tons of garbage daily. The firm would be responsible for collecting garbage and dumping it at the designated landfill site. It would deploy over 2000 sanitary workers and 500 sanitary machinery workers in the district. Since the Central district was thickly populated, therefore the Spanish company would use special machinery to collect the garbage. Minister Local Government Nasir Shah speaking on the occasion said that with the handing over solid waste management operation of Korangi and Central districts to Chinese and Spanish firms the entire city has been covered. Nasir Shah said that the SSWMB was created through an assembly act in 2014. The board had started its municipal operation in district South and East in 2016. The district West and now its part, Kiamari were outsourced in 2017. ‘ Since then SSWMB was only operative in five out of seven districts. “Now, with the commission of two more districts the entire city has been covered,” he said and added work in the Korangi and Central districts would start in the second week of August 2021. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that good governance was all about service delivery in an efficient and effective manner. “This is why his government has been implementing policies for improving service delivery at grass root level mostly centering around food security, provision of potable water, education, health care services, housing and civic amenities,” he said. Shah said that his government was committed to improving overall living conditions and had clear targets to make Sindh safe, secure, healthy and literate. He added that water and Sanitation were an important part of Pakistan’s International Human Rights commitments and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets and were therefore amongst top priorities of the Sindh government. Murad Ali Shah said that the Sindh government has brought back peace to the city and has made Karachi, a safe and secure place to live. “Now, in the wake of COVID-19, our prime focus has been to uplift the standard of public service delivery especially for essential services such as health and sanitation,” he said. The CM said that the coming of reputable international firms whose reputation precedes them, to operate in Karachi, Sindh was a positive sign of the resolve of the Sindh government to improve efficiency of service delivery. He vowed that the same approach would be adopted for expansion of solid waste management functions to other areas of the Province. At the conclusion of the programme,the MD SSWMB signed the operational agreement with the international forms and with the administrators of DMC Korangi and DMC Central.