PESHAWAR, April 15: Shortage of funds had put in jeopardy the proposed solid waste compost plant in the city, officials said.

They said failure to release necessary funds for the plant aimed at disposing of about 1,200 tons of solid waste generated by two million people of the provincial metropolis daily has forced the authorities to shelve the plan at least for the time being.

The officials said the City Development and Municipal Department had requested the district revenue office some time ago to release Rs80 million for land acquisition for the proposed plant, but so far no response had been received.

Director sewerage, water supply and sanitation, Sarir Khan, told Dawn that the municipal department had selected a 120-kanal plot along the Ring Road for the proposed project and also signed an agreement with a Lahore-based firm M/s Green Technology. However, the project could not take off due to non-availability of funds.

Under the proposed project, the firm was supposed to set up a plant with Belgium-made technology to convert solid waste into manure. The company was to collect waste and bear transportation cost. In addition, it would also pay Rs20 per ton of waste to scavengers, according to the agreement.

Collection and safe disposal of municipal and hospital waste are one of the major problems of Peshawar and other urban centres of the NWFP. Civic bodies in almost all the major cities have failed to address the problem or adopt measures to dispose of solid waste properly.

The officials said only half of the total waste generated in a day in Peshawar was collected properly, while the remaining was left unattended on roads, drains or in open spaces which caused serious health problems.

A few years ago the provincial government had set up four sewerage water treatment plants to treat municipal effluents but the problem still existed.

The health department has installed incinerators at major hospitals of the city to dispose of waste but it also proved ineffective due to mismanagement and poor technology.

According to rough estimates, only 40 per cent of the solid waste generated in Peshawar is collected which is dumped in open fields.