LAHORE: The inoperational dumpsite at Mahmood Booti along the Ring Road is being turned into a public park as the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) and the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) have joined hands to plant thousands of trees on its dumping mounds.

According to LWMC Project Director Hamid Zaman, the 320 kanal area, which outlived its utility as dumping site in September 2016, is now being converted into a park on the instructions of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

The conversion of the dumpsite into a recreational facility, the authorities hope, would serve four purposes: controlling smell, containing pollution, avoiding any human disaster and adding to the beauty of the area.

Zaman says such sites, which contain highly inflammable material, have always a high possibility of catching fire which becomes almost uncontrollable once lit. As per the plan, the mounds would be covered with a layer of four to four-and-a-half foot layer of soil, insulating them against any probability of fire. In addition, the soil layer would control the environmental pollution at the open site which is now producing foul smell and gases.

12,000 saplings have been planted on one side of the site

“A contract of Rs17m was awarded to the PHA and it covers cost of putting layer of soil, planting trees and workforce. So far, 12,000 trees have been planted on the eastern side of the site, which already has a boundary wall due to the Ring Road. Within next month, the western side would also be covered. Once the fence is in place on the western side, the project authorities would go for the next step – hiring a consultant to see what kind of facilities could be provided in the park,” Mr Zaman told Dawn.

These 80 to 90 foot high mounds of waste contain gases and leachate and one has to get expert studies on how to better use them, he says and claims that the PC-II for the consultancy is already there with the Planning and Development (P&D) Department. Once it gets clearance, further planning would be done under the light of those studies, he adds.

The locals living around and near the dumpsite have expressed happiness at the development plan.

Muhammad Jamil, who lives close to the site, says: “For the last many years, the life in the locality has been like a hell due to the site. Stench had filled the environment with kites and vultures hovering above the locality all the time and dropping refuse from the site into our homes. Mosquitoes and other insects only got bigger here. The site has not been under use for the last one-and-a-half-years and was left to fester”.

Mr Jamil says the locality was almost unlivable for the residents due to the dumpsite. Since localities around the site are very poor and their residents could not move to other areas.

“With layers of soil now covering the dump site and plants growing there is a welcome development from the authorities. We only hope that the project does not lose steam midway and it gets completed on fast track basis,” he expresses hope.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2018