KARACHI: The provincial government, through the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB), on Monday signed two agreements of solid waste management operation with Chinese and Spanish firms for lifting and dumping 3,500 tonnes of garbage from Korangi and Central districts from the second week of August.

Under the agreement the Chinese firm would install a 40MW waste-to-energy plant and also establish another plant to produce solid waste management-related machinery in Karachi.

This emerged when Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presided over a joint meeting of 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 Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Shah, Adviser on Law Murtaza Wahab, Consul General of China Li Bijian, Commissioner of Karachi Naveed Shaikh, KMC Administrator Laeeq Ahmed, CEO of Urbaser Jaime Martin, CEO of Gansu Liu Dongwaei, CEO of Gansu Pakistan Liu Tao, SSWMB managing director Zubair Channa and others.

A 40MW waste-to-energy power plant to be installed at the landfill site

The meeting was told that the solid waste management operation for district Korangi had been assigned to Gansu. Korangi district generates 1,920 tonnes of garbage daily. The Chinese firm would deploy 2,000 sanitary workers and mobilise 500 sanitary machine workers in the district to collect and dump the garbage at the landfill sites.

The 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.

40MW power plant

The Chinese company would also install a 40MW waste-to-energy power plant at the landfill site to generate electricity. The company would be given a separate contract for the purpose.

The chief minister termed the installation of waste-to-energy project a “historic” achievement, adding that the generation of power from Thar coal was the biggest achievement of the Sindh government and now it was achieving another “milestone”.

Industrial plant

Chinese firm, Gansu Heavy Industry, the mother organisation of Gansu Pakistan, also announced the establishment of an industrial plant to produce waste management-related machinery such as trolleys, dustbins, garbage binding system etc. This industrial unit would also generate job opportunities in the city.

District Central

The SSWMB signed a solid waste operational agreement with Spanish firm Urbaser for district Central.

District Central generates 1,920 tonnes of garbage daily. The firm would be responsible for collecting garbage and dumping it at the designated landfill site. It would deploy more than 2,000 sanitary workers and 500 sanitary machinery workers in the district.

Since district Central is thickly populated, the Spanish company will use special machinery to collect garbage.

Speaking on the occasion, the LG minister said that the whole city had been covered with the handing over of solid waste management operation of Korangi and Central districts to the Chinese and Spanish firms.

Nasir Shah said the SSWMB was created through an assembly act in 2014. The board had started its municipal operation in districts South and East in 2016.

District West and Keamari were outsourced in 2017. “Since then the SSWMB was only operative in five of the seven districts. Now, with the commission of two more districts the entire city has been covered,” he said and added that work in Korangi and Central districts would start in the second week of August.

The chief minister said that good governance was all about service delivery in an efficient and effective manner. “This is why our government has been implementing policies for improving service delivery at grass roots level, mostly centring around food security, provision of potable water, education, healthcare services, housing and civic amenities,” he said.

Mr Shah said that his government was committed to improving the overall living conditions and had clear targets to make the province safe, secure, healthy and literate.

The SSWMB chief signed the operational agreement with the international firms and with the administrators of DMC Korangi and DMC Central.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2021