RAWALPINDI: The board of directors of the Rawalpindi Waste Management Company (RWMC) on Monday approved a waste collection contract with the Al-Burak International Company of Turkey.

The contract details were later sent to the Lahore Solid Waste Management Company for final approval.

The board meeting was presided over by MPA Raja Hanif Advocate and attended by District Coordination Officer (DCO) Sajid Zafar Dall, officials of City District Government Rawalpindi, PML-N City President Sardar Naseem and other leaders.

The Lahore Solid Waste Management Company is the consultant for outsourcing Rawalpindi Waste Management Company (RWMC), which was established after disbanding the solid waste management department on March 1.

The defunct solid waste management department was doing its work at Rs445 million per year. The Turkish company, under its seven-year contract, will charge Rs1.25 billion per year.

Under the new system, the Turkish company will lift garbage door-to-door in 46 union councils of Rawal Town, 16 union councils of Potohar Town and one union council of Murree.

A total of 1,553 sanitary workers will be transferred from RWMC to the Turkish company.

These sanitary workers are government employees and were working with the defunct solid waste management department.

However, the government is still undecided about the future of the sanitary workers.

The RWMC board chairman, MPA Raja Hanif Advocate, told Dawn that the Turkish company had brought down the offer to Rs8 billion on the request of the provincial government.

“Initially, the government will pay Rs830 million to the company for the lifting of the garbage from the city roads and streets. The rest of the amount will be given to the company keeping in view its performance,” he said.

Raja Hanif also claimed that the Turkish company would be asked to lift the garbage three times in a day. However, he failed to explain who would bear the expenses.

He said that after the expiry of the contract, the RWMC will take over the charge of lifting garbage.