KARACHI: Two more district municipal corporations (DMCs) of Karachi on Friday inked an agreement with a Chinese sanitation service group to lift piles of garbage in their limits as the Sindh local government minister hoped that the work would begin from next month.

The DMCs of Malir and Karachi West through their chairman and administrator, respectively, signed the agreement with the Hang Zhou Jin Jiang Group Sanitation Service Company Limited at the office of LG Minister Jam Khan Shoro.

Officials said that the agreement was signed after the two DMCs formally agreed to hand over the garbage lifting responsibilities to the Chinese sanitation group. The DMC Malir’s council adopted a resolution as per the law, while the DMC West’s administrator and the municipal commissioner agreed to the deal as it had not yet got its chairman because of controversy during the election.

Sindh Solid Waste Management Board to oversee the process

The Sindh Solid Waste Management Board would be taking care of the whole process. The managing director of the board was also present during the signing ceremony and signed the document as the parent organisation to oversee the operations.

Another Chinese sanitation company was lifting garbage from the limits of DMCs South and East. However, the remaining two districts — Central and Korangi — could be included in the plan once their councils passed the mandatory resolutions.

Details of agreement

According to the agreement, the Chinese firm would charge $26 per metric ton of the garbage it would lift from the assigned land.

More than 200 vehicles and equipment would be used to dispose of the garbage, including thousands of tons of backlog waste.

The officials maintained that the existing sanitation staff of the two DMCs — as is being practiced in DMCs South and East — would be involved in the operations and they would get substantial increments on the basis of their performance.

Minister Shoro said on the occasion that the Pakistan Peoples Party’s provincial government was committed to the promises it had made with the people for improving sanitation conditions in the city.

“Today’s agreement signed by the Chinese firm and two more DMCs reflects the same endeavour,” he said, adding that the remaining districts would sign similar agreements with reputed international firms in near future.

He said the relevant authorities’ first preference would be to clear out the backlog as well as getting rid of the trash generated on daily basis by shifting the waste to the designated garbage stations.

He said similar work in Karachi’s South and East districts was continuing satisfactorily and the new agreement would help the city get cleaner and offer better hygienic conditions to its millions of citizens.

He said the Chinese sanitation group would complete the feasibility work of the two districts in a few days before the latest equipment arrived and formal operations were launched.

“We are trying our best to offer modern ways to turn the city into an attractive place for its citizens.”

He said the people of Karachi would soon witness an improvement in the state of the metropolis, which was the first priority of the government.

‘Crown of Sindh’

“It is just the beginning,” said the minister. “Karachi deserves the best, for which we have great plans. This city is the crown of Sindh and Pakistan,” he added.

He said the Sindh government was making similar plans for other cities of the province. According to him, cleanliness should be the foremost priority of the government of the day, which was what the leadership of the PPP sought to achieve as per its vision.

The minister said the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board was working on ways to expand similar operations to the remaining two districts of the city.

He said the people in Karachi South and East had already noticed a positive change in their areas where the Chinese firm was involved in better sanitation services.

He said time was not far when all citizens of Karachi would observe the city being cleaned through modern methods.

He said the provincial government was keenly seeking the support of all stakeholders in the city to make sure the metropolis was better served.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2017