KARACHI: Despite spending billions of rupees every year, the solid waste disposal is still a nightmare for Karachi and the government is clueless about how to reduce the growing garbage hills from the city, said Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor here on Sunday.
He said communicable diseases are rising in Karachi due to rotting uncollected garbage which is also a huge environmental problem. He said other countries recycled their garbage and also make electricity from them but for us instead of revenue and energy generation it is big headache. Giving the example of Denmark, he said fifty percent of the waste is recycled, 23% incinerated with energy recovery, 26% land filled and 1% is received special treatment. For domestic or household waste alone, the corresponding figures were: approximately 22% recycled, 58% incinerated with energy recovery and 20% land filled.
He said in Karachi a Cogen plant was made to use garbage for generating electricity but this plant was closed down even before it works for some “mysterious” reasons.
He said with every rainfall the entire city stinks due to uncollected rotten garbage. He said monsoon rains are due now and so is the attack of diseases and infections, but the municipal administration and foreign contractors of garbage collection are still in deep slumber. He said illegal encroachments have blocked the natural waterways of Karachi and both the rivers of Karachi, Lyari and Malir rivers are made gutter drains as well as mini landfill sites.
He said that in 2016, the Sindh government took away the function of solid waste disposal from the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and constituted a Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB).
Contracts for disposing of garbage in the city were given to Chinese contractors but these contractors have miserably failed to do their task. He said it seems that these contracts were given after taking heavy bribes and kickbacks but there is no agency ready to probe into this mega scam.
Altaf Shakoor asked the government to ensure proper garbage collection in the city and make sure that it will not stink again during the monsoon rains. He said citizens should also play their role to keep their surroundings clean and avoid littering their streets, open spaces and playgrounds.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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