LAHORE: To maintain the worsening cleanliness-related issues in the city, the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) has sought help from six civic agencies/departments for the provision of adequate equipment.

Since the civic departments, including the Lahore Development Authority (LDA), Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) and Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA), have not heeded the request, the coming days seem tougher for the company as well as dwellers of the city. Moreover, the company has also been restrained from using the machinery of a Turkish contractor in light of a stay order issued by the Lahore High Court, Dawn has learnt.

Civic agencies ignore company’s requests for help citing limited resources

Recently, the company wrote letters to the LDA director general, Wasa managing director, PHA director general, Municipal Corporation (MC) chief corporation officer, chief traffic officer and the deputy commissioner (DC) telling them that the services it outsourced to two Turkish contractors -- M/s Ozpak and M/s Albayrak -- for seven years in 2011 and the subsequent extensions to the contract were expiring on Dec 31.

It further wrote that it was preparing a new waste management model, but the transitional phase after the expiry of the contract with the Turkish contractors was critical in terms of ensuring cleanliness. “The LWMC has limited resources and the ability to lift 500 tonnes of waste from the city whereas the daily generation of waste in Lahore is about 5,500 tonnes,” the company said while seeking help from the civic agencies. It said it required 100 tractor trolleys, 41 dumper trucks, 11 small and 23 large excavators, 18 small and 11 large loaders.

According to an official source, none of the aforementioned authorities provided the required machinery.

“The LDA, Wasa, MC and the PHA have the machinery, but not enough to help LWMC. That is why no one except the DC office helped the LWMC take over the workshops/garages and machinery of the Turkish contractors -- Albayrak and Ozpak -- on Sunday night. But due to a stay order from the high court, the company cannot use Albayrak’s machinery,” the official explained.

It, therefore, faced a critical situation regarding maintaining cleanliness on the left side of Ferozepur Road (central and north Lahore). However, it would be able to manage the situation in south Lahore as it will use the machinery it seized from Ozpak, which could not get a stay order.

When contacted, an LWMC spokesman claimed that the company would be able to handle the situation, as it launched a zero-waste operation across the city.

“The situation will soon be under control, as we have made all arrangements to make the city waste-free,” he told Dawn.

He said the company officials, workers and machinery have been deployed in the field in three shifts. Waste from most of the areas had been cleared, including Nisbat Road, Shah Jamal, Haq Nawaz Road, Gulberg, Shah Alam Market, Circular Road, Daroghawala, Neelam Cinema, Firdous Market, Muslim Town and Samnabad.

People could call the LWMC helpline 1139 or mobile app ‘Clean Lahore’ for their waste-related complaints.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2020