To get citizens on board, PPP plans monetary incentives

Karachi
Households partaking in the forthcoming solid waste management system in the metropolis would be given monetary benefits as a token of appreciation, according to Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Senator Taj Haider.
The collected waste would be used to generate electricity, the senator added.
While delivering a keynote address at a conference, Urbanization and Environment, organised by National Forum for Environment and Health, Haider informed the new garbage disposal system would be introduced on a trial basis in district East, from November this year. Tenders for the project had also been invited.
The government had also decided to give out plastic bags, specially manufactured for the purpose, for collection purposes.
“Every concerned citizen is expected to cooperate with the board appointed for managing the system, in order for the environment and social conditions of the area residents to improve.”
Highlighting some other pipeline projects, he said the provincial government was planning on introducing fish farming as soon as the count of reverse osmosis (RO) plants, installed in Islamkot and Mithi (Thar), reached 1,000.
A plan to install desalination plants, to provide coastal area inhabitants with drinking water, was also being chalked out, the senator claimed.
Speaking of sewerage water treatment plants, Haider said repair work at two plants, installed in SITE and Mauripur respectively, had also been started.
With a capacity to treat seven and nine million gallons of water respectively daily, the water produced through these plants would be supplied to industrial estates.
In an indirect reference to the ongoing eviction drive in Karachi, Haider opined land grabbers found an active space to prey on only because the state was incapable of addressing housing and utility issues of lower income classes, migrating to the city from all over the country. “There are no authentic statistics available for the government to assess the number of internally displaced people.”
The government needed to follow into the footsteps of land grabbers and provide the required housing and civic facilities to the migrated population, Haider remarked. He stressed on the need for Pakistan to spare its own development resources and finances, for the upkeep of areas dwelled by the labour or less privileged classes, instead of looking out for international donations.
Commissioner Karachi Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui claimed, “The city’s civic and sanitation conditions had been considerably improved through effective mobilisation of resources and staff of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and its allied civic agencies.”