KARACHI: The Supreme Court-mandated commission on water and sanitation in Sindh on Tuesday warned a Chinese sanitation company working here that “not even a single penny” would be paid to it if it failed to install its command & control system within 15 days.

The commission, headed by retired Justice Amir Hani Muslim, observed that the proposed system would reveal the activities of the Chinese contractor, tasked with disposal of garbage in South and East districts, and it would also generate reports of the work being done by the contractor in a transparent manner.

On the directive of the commission, the Changyi Kangjie Sanitation Engineering Company and the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) held a meeting on Monday at the office of the SSWMB managing director to discuss the issues regarding fulfilment of the contract after the SSWMB complained that the contractor was not honouring the terms and conditions.

The commission was informed that proposals and counter proposals had been given by both the sides during the meeting while the SSWMB MD submitted a report, which was taken on record. The lawyer for the contractor sought two days to go through the report.

The contractor has undertaken to install the command & control system according to the specification within 15 days. The commission warned that if the contractor failed to do so within the stipulated period, the SSWMB would not release any funds to it. It further observed that the contractor had given justifications for not installing the command & control system, but said that the commission would not delve into these issues since the undertaking had been given by the contractor and the same was made part of the commission’s directives.

The commission said that the other issues must be sorted out in conformity with the terms of the contract and granted two days’ time to the contractor to study the SSWMB’s report.

On the last hearing, chairman of the Changyi Kangjie Sanitation Engineering Company Fan Man Guo with other officials of the firm finally turned up before the commission after being repeatedly summoned for the last many hearings over complaints of not honouring the contract.

The chairman of the sanitation firm had volunteered to stay in Pakistan till these issues are resolved and also complained of non-cooperation by the authorities concerned.

In the past, the commission had expressed dissatisfaction over the working of the Chinese firm and directed the chairman of the company to appear in person after the SSWMB managing director submitted a progress report regarding disposal of municipal waste in both districts and non-compliance of contractor with the terms and conditions under which the contract was awarded to him, including not setting up the command & contractor system.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2018