Multan, Nov 25: The city having a population of 1.8m souls is facing a serious sanitation problem because half of the solid waste thrown out in the streets is not removed. This was stated by the district coordination officer Iftikhar Baber while speaking at a workshop organized here on Friday on the topic of project management viz-a-viz National Environmental Action Plan.

The DCO said that the problem of solid waste got aggravated in Multan in the absence of any system for its proper disposal. He said the old Multan city shaped like a bowl and therefore lift pumps were required to pump out waste water from the low-lying areas. He said the machinery of the existing tubewells being used for the purpose had been decayed.

He underlined the need for installation of water treatment plants under the Southern Punjab Urban Development Project to do away with the hazardous affects of the waste water on the soil and crops. He said a hefty amount of Rs 7 billion was being provided under the SPUDP. Of which, Rs 1.7 billion would be spent on solid waste management and laying of a 30-kilometer-long sewerage carriage line.

He said that a huge slaughterhouse would be built outside the city limits while schemes about supply of safe drinking water would be introduced in Jalalpur Pirwala and Shujabad under the project.

The DCO said that the tanneries working in the city were being shifted to the industrial estate where they would be housed on rented pieces of land while the SMEDA was likely to advance loans to them on soft terms. He told the participants of the workshop that all the state-run and private hospitals working in the district had been asked to install incinerators for the disposal of their solid waste.

He said the municipal limits of Multan had been declared negative areas for setting up any industrial unit. The director environment (Punjab), Dr Shagufta Shahjehan, also addressed the participants of the workshop.