RAWALPINDI: The city district government on Sunday selected Irfan Ahmed Qureshi as the managing director of the newly-formed Rawalpindi solid waste management company which will take charge of the sanitation department in the district next year.

Mr Qureshi, who at present is working with the Punjab ministry of finance as an infrastructural specialist, has been called on December 31 to finalise the terms and conditions of the job.

The Punjab government has formed solid waste management companies in seven cities - Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala, Sialkot and Bahawalpur.

Initially, the Lahore waste solid management company was set up and the contract of garbage lifting was awarded to a Turkish company. After this, the scheme was extended to the other six cities.

The sanitation department in Rawalpindi district will be abolished and the new company will take charge of the sanitation matters.

It will then invite international tenders and award the contract for lifting of waste on a daily basis.

After May 11 polls, the provincial government included PML-N leaders in the board of directors of the newly-formed Rawalpindi solid waste management company for the selection of its managers.

In July, MPA Raja Mohammad Hanif Advocate was elected the company’s chairman and additional district collector revenue Talat Mehmood Gondal its managing director. However, the Punjab government did not approve Mr Gondal’s name.

On Sunday, the board of directors held a meeting with DCO Sajid Zafar Dall in the chair. There were many aspirants for the post of managing director, including 11 private and government officials.

They included former Wasa chief Islamul Haq, ex-EDO Imtiaz Malik, former TMO Shahzad and former project in-charge of the defunct RMC sweep project Jamil Asghar.

The board selected Irfan Ahmed Qureshi for the job.

When contacted, the DCO said Mr Qureshi had been picked for the post because of his professional skills.

He said the final approval was awaited from the provincial government.

After the selection of the managing director, the company would start its initial work to take charge of the sanitation department.

On the other hand, the president of the municipal workers union, Farooq Ahmed Khan, told Dawn that after privatisation of the sanitation department, the city government would impose sanitation tax.

“The expenditures of the sanitation work will increase from the current Rs481 million to Rs1 billion.”

He said if the government failed to protect the jobs of the sanitary workers, the union would launch protest demonstrations for their rights.