KARACHI, Jan 22: While the city’s solid waste management system has recently been privatized by the CDGK, the majority of the town and union council administrations in the metropolis have expressed reservations about the project as they claim they were not informed about the details and their role in the implementation of the scheme, it has been learnt.

Even though the decision to privatize the solid waste management system was taken by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-backed city government, the party-backed town nazims were also among those who were supposedly left in the dark about the project. However, they were all unwilling to acknowledge their reservations publicly but wished the city government and the Chinese company success.On Jan 11, the city government signed an agreement with Shanghai Shen Gong Environmental Protection Company Limited to privatize the solid waste management system of Karachi. According to the agreement, the services of about 8,000 to 10,000 sanitary workers in 18 towns would be placed at the disposal of the company, which would build eight Garbage Transfer Stations (GTSs).

However, according to Section 54-A (p)(iii) of the Sindh Local Government Ordinance (SLGO), 2001, the collection of solid waste and conveyance to transfer stations is one of the many functions of the town municipal administrations.

The majority of the town nazims agreed that they now have no role in the door-to-door collection of solid waste after the system’s privatization. However, some town nazims believed that they would have a supervisory role in monitoring the performance of the Chinese company.

Many of them also claimed they have no knowledge about a CDGK proposal to charge a fee from users falling in residential, commercial, industrial and hospital categories for the collection and disposal of their solid waste. The city government is going to invite objections from the public over this proposal in a day or two.

“The CDGK did not consult us in detail before signing the final agreement,” said Malik Fayyaz, the Lyari Town Nazim who enjoys the support of the Pakistan People’s Party. “We have reservations about the project and so far we have not shared the details of our sanitary staff and machinery with the city government,” he said.

He said that he was invited only to the signing ceremony of the Letter of Intent (LoI), where he was provided with sketchy details.

Mr Fayyaz pointed out that such important matters should be discussed in the meeting of the District Mushavirat Committee, but unfortunately the committee met only once during the last two years.

As per the SLGO, 2001, the District Mushavirat Committee shall meet at least once in every three months or as and when called into session by the district nazim or on the request of any two members of the committee.

He said instead of convening any meeting to share the details with the towns, the CDGK, through a letter, asked him to submit the details of sanitary staff so that it could be transferred to the Chinese firm.

“It is indeed a good project as the towns do not have sufficient manpower and machinery to clean their respective localities. However, we can do this job if we were allowed to establish garbage transfer stations close to our town. The landfill site is far from our town and it is not possible for our vehicles to dump all the waste there in a day,” he added.

Fee collection

An MQM-backed town nazim told Dawn that he was not satisfied with the proposal to impose a fee to collect garbage. “We were told that the fee would only be charged after the Chinese company proves that it is capable of cleaning the city by lifting garbage. But now I have heard that the company would collect the fee from the very first day,” he said.Liaquatabad Town Nazim Osama Qadri claimed that all the towns were on board before the final agreement to hand over the solid waste management system to the Chinese company. However, he said that the fee structure for any user might be changed.

Gulshan Town Nazim Wasey Jalil told Dawn that the town and the union councils would have a supervisory role in the project. “At this stage, it looks difficult because the system has not been implemented yet. However, all problems would be resolved with the commencement of the project’s groundwork,” he claimed.

Korangi Town Nazim Arif Khan appreciated the city government’s move to privatize the solid waste management system and said that his town would coordinate with the CDGK in this regard.

Keamari Town Nazim Humayun Khan admitted that he was not aware of the details of the project. “The project came under discussion only once and except this, no meeting was held on the issue,” he said.

The leader of the opposition in the City Council, Saeed Ghani, criticized the privatization of the project and said that the city government did not bother to share details of the agreement with the “real” stakeholders. “They did not bring this important matter before the City Council and now they are going to levy a tax for the collection of solid waste,” he added.

Municipal Services EDO Masood Alam told Dawn that the fee structure with regard to the collection of solid waste would be advertised in major dailies to get public feedback.

He said that the collection fee was being imposed as the Chinese company would provide 30 garbage bags to every home, shop, factory and hospital on a monthly basis. “We will involve the town and union council nazims in the project. However, the enforcement would be the responsibility of the city government,” he said.