Islamabad - The Capital Development Authority is considering to outsource collection and disposal of city’s waste to some foreign firm.
A meeting in this regard was held here at ministry of climate change under the chair of federal secretary ministry of climate change that was attended by the officers and officials of the CDA.
“The CDA has refused to contract out solid waste management in Islamabad to a private firm, as the CDA has a state-of-the-art sanitation wing which is performing well up to the mark,” said a senior CDA officer.
He said if the CDA contract it out then it would cost the CDA very high.
However, sources in the CDA said that ministry of climate change officials were of the view that decision has been taken by the Punjab government and that they were asked to implement it.
The official said decision in this regard would be finalized soon. The said Turkish firm is charging Rs 2800 in Lahore for collection and disposal of one ton of garbage. While the CDA says its sanitation wing does the same work for Rs 300.
The CDA estimates that the volume of waste generation in Islamabad is around 600 metric tons per day. About 91 per cent of the waste generated in Islamabad comprises of household and green waste, while the rest includes plastic, glass and construction material.
Sectors I-11 and G-6 collectively generate 168.6 tons of garbage per day, while sectors E-8 and G-5 generate 2.5 tons of waste per day. The sanitation directorate employs 2,200 workers.
The CDA has outsourced waste collection in six residential sectors, G-6, G-7, G-8, G-9, G-10 and I-10. Despite a system of waste collection, the CDA had failed to earmark a landfill site in Islamabad.
Thought the CDA has better management of waste collection, it has been dumping it unscientifically for the past many years.
In the late 1980s, the authority started dumping garbage in Sector H-12 and continued the practice till 2006. Later, it was shifted to sector H-11. But after the Islamabad High Court’s order, sector I-14 was selected as the new site in 2010. It was later shifted to I-12 in 2011 and in 2013 to sector D-12. After the SC took notice, the CDA shifted its dumping site to sector I-12.
In 2010, there was a proposal to establish a landfill site near Kuri village, but after strong opposition from locals and environmentalists, the idea was dropped in 2012. The CDA’s sanitation directorate covers only 1 million, around half of the capital’s population.