LAHORE: The Lahore Waste Management Company’s Board of Directors (BoD) has approved award of the town-wise secondary waste collection outsourcing projects after completing the competitive bidding process.

The per tonne rates offered by the contractors will result in saving of Rs514 million while comparing the rates being charged by the current temporary contractors hired for a transition period after ending of the contract with the Turkish contractors in December last year, Dawn has learnt.

According to a document, the secondary waste collection outsourcing project has been awarded for Rs625 (inclusive of all taxes) per ton solid waste for Ravi Town, followed by Rs1,113 per ton for Allama Iqbal Town, Rs848 for Nishtar Town, Rs745 for Samanabad Town, Rs689 for Data Ganj Bakhsh Town, Rs438 for Shalimar Town, Rs645 for Gulberg Town, Rs466 for Aziz Bhatti Town and Rs384 per ton for Wagah Town. The rates being charged by the temporary contractors were Rs1,010, Rs1,250, Rs1,218, Rs1,100, Rs1,100, Rs944, Rs1,275, Rs849 and Rs744 for Ravi, Iqbal, Nishter, Samanabad, Data Ganj Bakhsh, Shalimar, Gulberg, Aziz Bhatti and Wagah towns respectively.

Documents show Rs514m saving

“The current tender which will end by the end of this month was awarded for four months on an urgent basis and the rates received were higher given low local capacity. However, the new secondary waste collection tender has been awarded at lower rates for each town after open competition,” reads the document.

“The tender process has resulted in saving of Rs514 million from the estimated cost,” it said.

The document also mentions improvement in the average tonnage per day waste collection in the city. “On 21st of January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August and 10th of September, the collection was 4,621, 3,696, 4,834, 4,997, 5,663, 6,222, 7,507, 5,419 and 4,749 tons respectively. “Since our collection is improving, the work to replace the old waste containers with the new ones is under way in the city,” an official told Dawn. “The contracts will be initially for one year with a provision to extend for another two years,” he added.

Hydel projects: The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) says completion of various ongoing mega projects will ensure provision of 950 million gallon (per day) drinking water to residents of Karachi and Peshawar.

“The construction of more than 10 projects in water and hydropower sectors, including Diamer Basha Dam, Mohmand Dam, Dasu Hydropower Project, Nai Gaj Dam, Sindh Barrage and K-IV Project is underway on a fast pace. These projects are scheduled to be completed one by one by 2028-29. On completion, the gross water storage capacity will increase from 13MAF to more than 24MAF that will be sufficient to irrigate another 1.6 million acres of land,” Wapda Chairman retired Lt-Gen Muzammil Hussain said in a meeting with Minister for Water Resources Moonis Elahi who visited the Wapda House on Thursday.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2021