GUJRAT: The Punjab government has approved a basic grant of Rs1.6 billion for the establishment of Gujrat Waste Management Company (GtWMC) and released an initial instalment of Rs500 million for the purpose.

Official sources said another Rs600m had been approved for the establishment of a Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) here. They said both the organisations were being established in Gujrat as it had been upgraded to a divisional headquarter in August.

Moreover, an annual grant of Rs1.1bn would also be provided to the GtWMC as its operational cost.

The local administration had sought the establishment of the company around a year ago keeping in view the rapid urbanisation as well as the limited resources of the civic authorities to keep the city clean. The provincial government had approved establishment of both the bodies in September and funds were provided through supplementary grants approved by the cabinet.

The waste management company’s registration and formation of its first board of directors had been completed a couple of months ago and now it had entered the phase of procurement of machinery, recruitment of human resource and establishment of a separate office, Deputy Commissioner Amir Shahzad told Dawn.

He further said the first instalment of Rs500m released by the finance department would be transferred to the company’s account by the local government department.

As per official data, the city’s population went up from 350,000 to 500,800 in the last decade, and there had been an increase of around 250 per cent in the areas of Gujrat Metropolitan Corporation (MC) due to urbanisation.

The Gujrat MC produced at least 260 tonnes of solid waste daily as compared to around 170 tonnes about 10 years ago but its capacity to lift the waste had not been increased accordingly. Moreover, according to official reports, the MC sanitary staff had reduced from 728 to 528 during the last decade.

The civic agency did not have the authority to recruit human resource or procure machinery to overcome a crisis-like situation, said an official privy to the proposal. The establishment of the GtWMC and formation of its autonomous board would enable the company to address all these issues itself.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2022