Chinese contractor told to cover open garbage dumps

The managing director of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB), Taha Ahmed Farooqi, has taken notice of open dumps and ordered covering them immediately.

The SSWMB chief has directed the Chinese contractor concerned to remove the open garbage dumps from all important streets of the city, saying that open dumps should be allowed only at such spots in case they were a must, said a statement on Monday.

Where a Kachra Kundi was required, a large container should be placed and an e-chip installed in it so as to monitor the situation from the Command and Control Room, he said. Farooqi said that a report with regard to compliance with the directives of covering the open garbage dumps be submitted; otherwise action would be taken in view of the contract.

He said that the Chinese and all contractors should be directed to cover the garbage vehicles with tarpaulin. —APP

News Desk adds: Two more district municipal corporations (DMCs) of Karachi signed an agreement with a Chinese sanitation service group in October 2017 to dispose of garbage.

The DMCs of Malir and West, through their chairmen and administrators, respectively, signed the agreement with the Hang Zhou Jin Jiang Group Sanitation Service Company Limited at the office of Sindh Local Government Minister Jam Khan Shoro.

Officials said that the agreement was signed after the two DMCs formally agreed to hand over the garbage-lifting responsibilities to the Chinese sanitation group. The DMC Malir’s council adopted a resolution as per the law, while the DMC West’s administrator and the municipal commissioner agreed to the deal as it had not yet got its chairman because of controversy during the election.

According to the agreement, the Chinese company will charge $26 per metric ton of the garbage it would lift from the assigned land. Over 200 vehicles and equipment would be used to dispose of garbage, including thousands of tons of backlog waste.