LAHORE: Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC)’s door-to-door waste collection plan, scheduled to be launched by the end of December in municipal limit, is nothing more than a pipedream, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Plans regarding door-to-door waste collection in the city were activated in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2009 spearheaded by City District Government Lahore (CDGL) but all of them fell flat. “This time LWMC, powered by CDGL on the direction of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, have assumed the charge to launch the plan by outsourcing the task in six model areas with dim chances of success, as the grey areas that foiled all past attempts are still unattended, and regretfully LWMC has not bothered to address them,” a senior CDGL official told Pakistan Today.
The grey areas, he pointed out, included regulations, enforcement of law, psychological barrier, public education, manpower, finances and supervisions.
He elaborated that LWMC had also not taken notice of the Solid Waste Management’s mater plan 2007-2021 and bylaws 2005. “The focus of the door-to-door collection plan is on development of basic infrastructure including hiring of firms, feasibility of service delivery, availability of machinery and fee collection system,” he added.
According to an official in Town Hall, LWMC Managing Director Waseem Ajmal, who got appointed on CM’s direction, also failed to map out a strategy with courts to evolve a system to dispose off cases against violators and fine chits on fast tracks.
So much so, he said that neither an enforcement wing nor enforcement inspectors had been embodied in the new plan which means that officials of firms, officials of LWMC and all stakeholders are free to violates the rules. “Thus, system that runs without proper rules and its strict enforcements is doomed to collapse,” DO (Planning & Workshop) Rafiq Jattoi said.
FAILURE CAUSES: Other reasons that caused failure included weak coordination between the MCL and the franchisees; unreliable removal of waste from the transfer points, and lack of effective monitoring, that led to indiscriminate open dumping of solid waste, causing pollution, nuisance and dissatisfaction.
These failures were associated with an absence of accountability resulting from the lack of interest of higher officials coupled with the low political priority of SWM. Meanwhile weak co-operation between communities and franchisees resulted in low participation in the system.
Underlying causes for this low participation included poor quality of the service, insufficient interaction with community leaders, the service charge that was considered to be unaffordable for the residents in low-income areas, and a lack of environmental concern. However, LWMC MD Waseem Ajmal said that outsourcing system for door to door waste collection would make a difference and he tried to plug up all loopholes.
EARLIER LAUNCHES: As per data available to Pakistan Today, MCL launched door to door waste collection pilot project in some areas namely Wahdat Colony, Government Quarters, GOR III, Shadman Colony, and Block A of Johar Town in 1999.
The stakeholders were described as CDGL (Public Sector), Formal Private Sector, Waste Collectors (Informal private sector), and community (Service User, non-service users, elected representatives).
After its failure, another pilot project was formally launched in nine main areas including Garden Town, Muslim Town, Fiasal Town, Allama Iqbal Town, Gulshan-e-Ravi, Township, Shahdman, Shah Jamal, and Model Town Extension in 2000.
The service was withdrawn after implementation of franchise system in 2001 with change of command from MCL to CDGL through devolution plan.
PRIVATIZATION PLANS: CDGL also planned to privatize the system in 2009. Private companies of France and China along with two local-based including waste busters were engaged in the privatization plan. Plan remained on papers and later was brushed under the carpet after government failed to remove the concerns of the companies.
Korea International Cooperation Agency and World Bank’s recent joint study suggested that a combination of government and private service is desirable. Solution of problems in SWM commonly proposed to contract service provision with the private sector in the belief that service efficiency and coverage will improve, and environmental protection will also be enhanced.
WASTE REPORT: The study said that in Lahore, 43 percent of people want private sector involvement and 39 percent want government control (Akhtar Nazir, Country report, CDGL). Around 83 percent people are not satisfied with the present condition of solid waste collection. The study said that city is generating around 9,000 tons of waste per day. Waste generation per capita ranges 0.5-0.65 kg/day, higher than other cities except Multan and DG Khan.
Ravi Town among 9 towns in Lahore has the highest rate of waste generation LWMC has capacity to deal with only 5000 tons of waste while remaining 4000 tons remains laying in open spaces.
The waste come from residential, commercial, hospital, and industrial area: about 1,000 thousand (urban) households, 44 hospitals, 500 clinics, food, vegetable markets, animal markets and shops, industrial factories from textile, engineering, steel, chemicals, power generations, pharmaceuticals, leather, consumer goods. Study further revealed that that unfortunately, none of the cities in Punjab specially Lahore has a proper solid waste management system right from collection of solid waste up to its final disposal.
There is no proper door-to-door collection system, placement of containers or mutually agreed designated transfer stations /secondary collection. It has been noted that the service of street / road sweeping is not regular and mainly limited to administrative, commercial and other industrial areas.
Further, the number of formal collection bins such as masonry enclosures, containers and trolleys are too less to accommodate their waste generated in these cities. Further these points are not located according to population and area requirements.
