ISLAMABAD: The Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) has cancelled the bidding process for a contract to collect garbage in the capital in response to objections raised by the Ministry of Climate Change.

The cancellation is yet another snag in the MCI’s plan to outsource garbage collection all over Islamabad, while expanding garbage collection to the capital’s rural outskirts.

A notification issued by the corporation’s sanitation directorate dated Jan 27 referenced a Jan 21 letter from the climate change ministry and said that the invitation for bids was cancelled.

Garbage collection is currently limited to the urban areas and carried out by contractors. The MCI’s project, which sought to award a contract for a “smart and integrated municipal solid waste management system” intended to expand this service to the rural areas. The bidding was cancelled on Monday, and tenders were to opened on Tuesday.

Director Sanitation Sardar Khan Zimri confirmed the cancellation while speaking to Dawn.

Process was cancelled on Monday, a day before bids were to be opened in response to objections raised by climate change ministry

“We were to open bids on Tuesday, but following objections raised by the Ministry of Climate Change and Local Government Commission we decided not to proceed further. We issued the formal cancellation letter on Monday,” he said.

Before the formation of the MCI, the sanitation directorate was a part of the Capital Development Authority (CDA). In 2017, when the MCI opened the bids, sanitation directorate employees backed by the CDA employees’ union filed a case against the project that resulted in its cancellation.The MCI then called the tender again two years later. Sources said that 10 companies, including two companies from China and two from Turkey, had shown interest but the MCI cancelled the bidding process after objections from the climate change ministry.

Mr Zimri said the ministry had found the project to be against the spirit of a “clean green city” and proposed measures to be taken before the project is launched.

He said that ongoing projects in the city areas will also expire after June this year, and this project needed to be launched to continue operations in the urban areas and expand them to rural areas.

There are no garbage collection services in place for 32 out of Islamabad’s 50 union councils. In the absence of a system, most rural residents dispose of garbage in empty land or in nullah. The MCI has placed large bins at some central locations in a few union councils, but this is not enough to meet people’s needs.

When contacted, Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz expressed surprise that the bid was cancelled. He said that as the competent authority, he had told the directorate to postpone the project for a month to incorporate the concerns of the ministry.

Mr Aziz said he was shocked to learn that the bid was cancelled and alleged that there were elements who did not want MCI progress.

“There is no government funding involved in this project as we can run it through taxes. As far as the Ministry of Climate Change is concerned, we can consider their point of view but no ministry except for our parent ministry – the Ministry of Interior – can ask to cancel the bid,” he said.

Mr Aziz added that he would check with the director as to how the bid was cancelled.

Mr Zimri, the director, said the cancellation orders were issued after approval from the acting chief officer of the MCI who is also the CDA member engineering.

The Local Government Commission, which is headed by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on CDA Affairs MNA Ali Nawaz Awan, had directed the MCI to halt the project to address concerns raised by the ministry.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2020