SAHIWAL: Arifwala, around a hundred years old town, now a tehsil of Pakpattan district, has finally got the first designated dumping site in the region for disposal of urban and rural solid waste.
Located near 145/EB village in Arifwala tehsil, the site spans nine acres (approximately 100,000 square feet), marking a long-overdue shift in municipal waste management practices.
The land for the project that has been completed at a cost of Rs18 million was allocated by the provincial government, while its development was undertaken by HS & Co—a private contractor responsible for managing solid waste in the tehsil..
Fasil Imran, Assistant Commissioner, having additional charge of Arifwala Municipal Committee administrator, confirmed that the contractor developed the site in compliance with the standards set by the government.
In urban planning, a designated dumping site serves as a controlled area for disposing of solid waste, often incorporating techniques for recycling and environmental mitigation.
Mr Humayun, CEO, HS & Co, says the site was developed while paying full attention to technical specifications and climate-resilient strategies. “The design anticipates the city’s solid waste disposal needs for at least the next five years,” he added.
Arifwala Town was officially founded on April 27, 1927, and inaugurated by Ms F B Wace, spouse of the then registrar of Cooperative Societies, Punjab. She played a prominent role in the city’s civic layout, also presiding over the ceremonial opening of the town on March 6, 1931. The city’s infrastructure—especially its wide streets and planned bazaars—was designed with long-term civic foresight. Early urban planners incorporated drainage and sewerage systems, but conspicuously omitted provisions for solid waste disposal. For decades, the Municipal Committee (MC) had been indiscriminately dumping solid waste at different locations, mostly around railway tracks, and along roads, contributing to pollution.
Arifwala’s MC, now comprising 34 wards, had no designated centralised disposal site. Local scavengers and gypsies would often discard household waste at unmarked locations, exacerbating sanitation and environmental issues.
Presently, the city produces approximately 375 tons of solid waste per day, with 105 tons attributed to urban households.
As per official sources, earlier Arifwala MC had 164 sanitary workers and five tractor-trolleys to handle solid waste with no dumping site. Now, under the private contractor, as many as 750 sanitary workers and 190 vehicles have been deployed for the solid waste disposal in the tehsil.
The newly developed dumping site is a step forward in reducing waste-related hazards and promoting sustainable waste management under the Suthra Punjab initiative of the Punjab government.
Iftikhar Ali, CEO of the Sahiwal Solid Waste Company, confirmed that this is the region’s first dumping site developed through a private-sector collaboration.
Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2025
