–MCI workers letting garbage overflow for long period before cleaning
ISLAMABAD: The Metropolitan Corporation of Islamabad (MCI) has geared up its efforts to install modern solid waste management system in the city which will ensure scientific handling of the total garbage, generated by its urban and rural areas.
“The initiative which is meant to ensure a clean and green environment in Islamabad has entered into an advance stage as the corporation is all set to hire a consultant for carrying out its feasibility study,” a top official in the MCI Sanitation Wing told APP on Wednesday.
The MCI would open a technical bid of Rs300 million on April 30 to get the consultancy advisory on the scope modern solid waste management system, he added.
He said the consultant was being hired to devise the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to streamline the process of garbage collection and its disposal. The expert would chalk out a comprehensive plan which included financial model and survey of rural areas for household waste collection, he added.
The official said the entire process of materialising the project would take several months.
To a query, he said the establishment of a permanent landfill site in the federal capital was also part of this project for which land near Sangjani had been selected after carrying out an Environment Impact Assessment report of the area.
“The EAI has been submitted a request to the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (PEPA)to obtain the No Objection Certificate,” he added.
“If this whole project got materialized, the issue of garbage disposal would be resolved for once and all,” he remarked.
Presently, the federal capital illustrates a bleak picture when it comes to the handling of tonnes of garbage. The authorities concerned still rely on archaic methods of solid waste collection which not only poses a serious threat to the environment but also creates a health risk for the residents of the federal capital.
A former employee of the IMC, requesting anonymity said the capital’s garbage has been testing the nerves of its citizens for the last couple of decades. “Islamabad is the face of Pakistan but it has been lacking a permanent dumping site since its inception.”
A long ago, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has placed dumpsters of various sizes at the corner of each street of Islamabad to collect the household garbage, he said, terming the method as an outdated in the present times.
“These waste trolleys without a proper cover can easily be seen as overflowing in every street of Islamabad as IMC sanitary workers are least bothered to clean the bins on time.”
Similarly, the establishment of a permanent dumping site had also remained a herculean task for the city managers, he said.
The former employee said the CDA and IMC had taken many abortive attempts in the past to set up a scientific waste site on a permanent basis but no headway made in a single case. “It seems that the recent endeavours of MCI may also not see the day of light due to its financial and technical constraints.”
