RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government is trying to get a contract for solid waste management in the cantonment areas for a private firm.

A senior Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) official told Dawn that the ruling PML-N is trying to increase the scope of a Turkish waste management company, Al Buraq, working in Rawalpindi city and wanted to include the cantonment areas in its fold.

He said that following the arrival of a private company to lift garbage in the cantonment areas, the board’s expenditure would increase. He said the Rawalpindi Waste Management Company offered to lift garbage from the cantonment areas’ streets and roads for Rs5,500 per ton, while the RCB spent Rs1,600 per ton.

He said that rather than giving a private firm the contract to lift garbage, the government should give the board additional funds so it can increase manpower in this branch and buy vehicles to move garbage from the cantonment areas to the landfill site.

RCB officials want increased funding to improve waste management

He said there would also be security issues in the cantonment areas, due to all the military installations in the cantonment, and giving the private firm the contract would increase problems.

He said talks between the private firm and the RCB were underway, and the matter would likely appear in the board meeting scheduled to be held on May 19. He said the matter would cause resentment among elected members and RCB officials.

When contacted, RCB vice president Raja Jahandad Khan said efforts had been made to privatise the cantonment areas’ sanitation department, but this would not be possible.

He said the Al Buraq firm may be successful when it comes to main roads, but would not be able to handle sanitation in the narrow streets on which the cantonment areas’ civilian population resides.

He said elected members are trying to get funds from the federal and provincial government to improve the cantonment areas’ sanitation department. “After getting funding from the government, the landfill site will be procured and more vehicles will be added to the sanitation fleet to run routine work smoothly,” he said.

He said it was not necessary that the cantonment areas would privatise sanitation on the pattern of the sanitation departments in big cities. He said the sanitation issues in the cantonment areas are different from cities.

According to PML-N MNA Malik Abrar, the prime minister has approved the establishment of waste management authorities in the cantonment areas.

He said separate waste management companies would be set up for the Rawalpindi and Chaklala cantonments. Mr Abrar said these were plans, and the final word would come from the relevant ministry.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2016