Five firms submit tenders for garbage collection in Korangi, Central districts

The Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) has invited international tenders for Korangi and Central districts on Thursday. The board is already functional in other districts of Karachi.

According to a press statement from the SSWMB, five companies have participated in the tender process. In a meeting held by Managing Director SSWMB, Zubair Channa, on Thursday, the tenders were opened to lift garbage in Korangi and Central districts from the doorstep to landfill sites. Of the five international companies, three are Chinese while the remaining two are European companies. After the evaluation of tenders for a month, the contract selection will be done.

In the passage of a few months, the garbage-lifting process in the entire city, according to Channa, will be under the SSWMB. He said that their priority was to lift garbage from every doorstep and transport it to the landfill sites so that the citizens could be provided relief.

The board is currently functional in East, South, Malir and West districts; however, nothing is mentioned about the newly formed district of the city, Keamari.

In District Korangi and District Central, the garbage management is the job of the district municipal corporation (DMC). However, after the tender process is done, the task will be transferred to the SSWMB.

The elected chairmen of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement of Korangi and Central districts in the last tenure of the local governments had been requested repeatedly to transfer the garbage management function to the board, but they had refused to do so.

According to a press statement issued by the board, it was, however, decided to appoint a technical adviser with the assistance of the World Bank and the Sindh government’s Competitive & Livable City of Karachi Project for Pakistan (CLICK), which is worth $240 million.

The technical adviser considering the salient features of the two districts and after collecting all the details issued the tenders. The tenders were earlier supposed to be issued on May 6, but due to the rules of the Sindh Public Procurement Authority -- which says that the tenders are supposed to be published in local and international newspapers -- it was delayed until May 20, Thursday, considering international holidays.

Channa said they were determined to provide cleanliness services of international standards to the city. Those districts where the board was functional, he said, the garbage collection had become far better there. Soon, he assured, the garbage collection and cleanliness situation in Korangi and Central districts would become better.

With the assistance of the World Bank, the Sindh government is working on the Solid Waste Emergency & Efficiency Project (SWEEP), which isn’t only about managing solid waste but also involves the cleaning of storm water drains.

According to the project’s brief, 4,000 to 5,000 tonnes (40 per cent) of the solid waste generated in Karachi every day is disposed of in storm water drains, immediately choking these sewage carriers. The provincial government sought the WB’s assistance in improving the city’s infrastructure and the capacity-building of all the elected local councils under its CLICK project.

The project has three key components: capacity improvement for infrastructure and improvement of Karachi’s local councils under the local government department for $181.86 million (Rs30.7 billion), improvement of the urban property tax system through the excise & taxation department for $40.4 million (Rs6.8 billion) and setting up the Sindh Investment Portal through the investment department for $17.2 million (Rs2.9 billion).