ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has issued a work order to a successful bidder for the collection of garbage from rural areas of Islamabad and the contractor would start its operations within a “few days”.

The work order was issued on the last working day before the Eid break. On June 12, the CDA invited bids for the project and a firm named ‘Amjad Ali and Company’ won the contract after its lowest bid was accepted by the CDA management.

“Work order has been issued and within a few days, the contractor will start operations. This project will provide a major relief to the population residing in rural areas of the capital,” the CDA chairman said.

Noorul Amin Mengal added that in the absence of a waste management system in the rural areas, residents had no option but to dispose of their waste in the open. “Now, our contractor will collect waste from across the rural areas,” Mr Mengal said.

He told Dawn that in addition to this project, the CDA was also carrying out several development projects in all union councils of the rural areas.

CDA says work on Losar landfill to start soon after NOC from environmental body

Waste management project

In the urban areas of the capital, the CDA has been overseeing the waste management project, but for rural areas, the civic agency has outsourced waste collection and cleanliness services.

The contractor after collecting waste from houses will shift it to a “transfer station” on the edge of sectors I-9 and I-10. From this station, another contractor, together with the waste collected from urban areas, will move it to the Losar landfill site in Rawalpindi.

It must be mentioned here that Islamabad has no landfill site. After shifting its temporary landfill sites from various areas, the CDA started dumping garbage in Sector I-12. However, last year the CDA requested the Punjab government to allow it to dispose of the capital’s waste in Rawalpindi’s Losar area after it was rebuked by the courts.

In order to find a solution to its garbage disposal problem, the CDA had hired the services of a private consultant which had recommended the civic agency to set up a scientific landfill site in Losar. An officer of the CDA’s sanitation directorate said that following the recommendations of the consultant, the CDA was taking steps to establish a landfill site in the area.

“Recently, the environment agency of the Punjab government conducted a public hearing for our proposed site in Losar. Now, we are waiting for their response,” he said.

To a query, the official said that the Punjab government had already given a go-ahead to the CDA for setting up its landfill site in Rawalpindi. The official was hopeful that the work in this regard would soon kick-off. “I do agree; this is a chronic problem, but we are hopeful… as soon as the environment body will issue an NOC, the CDA will immediately start work on the garbage dumping site,” he said.

The official was optimistic about the NOC. But, if the permission was denied then the civic agency would ask the consultant for alternative options, he added.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2023