16 February 2004	Monday	24 Zilhaj 1424

According to some news reports, the performance of the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) and its constituent tiers, regarding solid waste management (SWM) was satisfactory during Eid-ul-Azha in the removal of offal.

It was also concluded that after this demonstration, the CDGK has improved its waste management capacity in all respects.

This is a misconception which needs rectification to a considerable extent. Removal of offal is a one time exercise undertaken with considerable planning, allocation of staff and funds.

While the overall report during this particular season may have been found to be satisfactory, it was done only at the cost of the routine SWM service. Apart from this special event, the waste management scene in Karachi is confronting new challenges which demands appropriate attention from CDGK.

With the rise in consumerism and emerging complexities in life styles and production processes, the types and formats of waste generation has become fairly diversified.

Many private hospitals and health care facilities have opened up that generate hospital waste of hazardous nature. Expansion in the usage of electronic gadgetries has given rise to electronic waste. Rubber, plastic, paper, garden, industrial and biological waste of different volumes, contents and characteristics is created as a natural outcome.

Whereas the normal municipal waste is hardly removed, the new formats of waste generation are lying unattended to a great extent. Epidemics of unforeseen intensity and magnitude have recently spread in different parts of the world.

Waste management is obviously one of the key factors in these crises. While Karachi has not been directly affected in these upheavals, consequences of any similar event are likely to cause catastrophe of an unimaginable extent.

Besides, the fall-outs of poor hygiene and solid waste management on the economic performance can be extremely grave. Needless to say that investments, enterprise and employment opportunities are adversely affected in such situations. Priority of SWM must be raised in this pretext without delay.

The existing situation displays a rather grave scenario in the domain of SWM. During the post devolution time period, there was a re-alignment of roles and responsibilities in the three tiered city government system.

Collection of household level garbage, street cleaning and sweeping as well as transference of garbage to secondary collection points was assigned to union council administrations. Town municipal administrations (TMA) were assigned to lift the solid waste from various secondary dumping points and transport it to the city dumping sites.

Maintenance and upkeep of the fleet of vehicles, dumping points and roads/streets were also responsibilities of TMAs. CDGK was assigned to look after the final disposal at the dumping site. Observations of various city areas have clearly shown that this arrangement is not working, as was planned.

Spot checks at some neighbourhoods revealed few basic short comings. At the scale of union council, it was found that the sweepers/sanitary workers were mostly involved in private work.

Lack of basic equipment (such as wheel barrows and spades), absence of proper supervisory staff and lack of designated points for transporting the waste were the key issues. The TMAs were greatly concerned about absence of vehicles.

According to sources, very few towns have even the essential number of garbage trucks/compactors to lift and transport the solid waste. It is worth while to note that the Governor of Sindh had allocated Rs. 100 million in July 2003 for the purchase of 72 waste collection and disposal vehicles, practical follow-up is yet to be seen.

CDGK has also not moved forward to plan and develop the existing dumping site of Jam Chakro into a sanitary landfill with proper specifications. Researches have clearly established the fact that recycling is an established enterprise. It is organised and managed at an informal scale.

Street scavengers, waste pickers, collectors/contractors, re-cycling plant operators and buyers of recycled products are the key actors in this process. Papers, glass, metal, rubber, clothing, dried bread, bones, used cans are the main articles collected from various sources for feeding into the recycling stream.

It is estimated that this activity generates livelihood for over 55000 households. It also helps in reducing the volume of the un-removed waste from the neighbourhoods.

However this enterprise is operating below its potential due to its informal nature of working, threat from state institutions and limited possibility of expansion.

Private sector operators have been contracted for SWM service delivery in the past. The results were disappointing. In 1998, the District Municipal Corporation (DMC)-Central, which is now defunct, awarded a contract to an operator in North Karachi and F. B. Area.

Despite proper legal cover, administrative assistance and facilitation by the municipality, the experiment did not work. Lack of proper experience on the part of the contractor, long distances involved in the process of dumping and under-experienced staff employed by the contractor were some of the major short comings. Many NGOs and contractors had applied to acquire the contracts for service delivery. However they faced the same problems.

A few foreign firms were also invited to take up the overall task of waste management but the negotiations broke down somewhere in the middle of the process due to unknown reasons.

Due to its peculiar nature of service, waste management is a restricted occupation as far as the primary collection, street sweeping and nullah maintenance is considered.

Many clans and families of local Hindu, Christian and Scheduled Castes are involved in this trade since generations. With the passage of time, their sociological strength has improved considerably.

Instances have demonstrated that this community acts as a strong lobby to safeguard its livelihood and income. It is however vital to consider that if offered to properly participate, this community can be motivated to be more productive and useful.

Their performance potential has been analysed in-depth by the several consultants and researchers who prepared the solid waste management strategy around 1990s for the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (now defunct).

Solid waste management needs immediate attention. Few steps may be launched without delay. The CDGK must undertake a broad based stock taking of the existing situation to set its priorities of action. This task must be done in consultation with the TMAs. Rapid institutional changes have dispersed the SWM related staff to a great extent.

Staff cadres need reorganisation, training and fresh orientation towards their assignments. From coolies to engineers, a rigorous exercise must be undertaken. Options of public private partnerships may be explored in specialised domains of services such as hospital waste management.

Such attempts must essentially involve local private entrepreneurs in a bid for capacity building. CDGK must devise a monitoring mechanism for SWM in consultation with TMAs.

And foremost of all, the physical aspects of SWM must be undertaken in accordance with the city master planning exercise. Till such time that a fresh master plan is made, reference to the older version may be made as a starting point.