LAHORE: The provincial government’s flagship project – “Suthra Punjab Programme” – has entered its “correction phase” in a bid to resolve the issues identified last year.

The project, according to the government, is the largest cleanliness programme, collecting and disposing of nearly 50,000 tonnes of solid waste on a daily basis in all cities, towns, union councils and villages across Punjab.

“The most important aspect of this mega programme is admitting the issues and gaps we have witnessed in the phase-1 that ended on December 31st, last year. So, 2026 is the year of correction. And we can say that Suthra Punjab programme has entered its correction phase from January 1,” Suthra Punjab Authority’s Director General Babar Sahib Din explains in a talk with Dawn.

The Maryam Nawaz-led Punjab government had launched the programme in December 2024 after taking over the charge to overcome the lack of a cleanliness mechanism in the districts, except the metropolitan, municipal or urban areas of a few major cities. All other district and tehsil headquarters had a very old system that had almost collapsed.

In villages, union councils and small towns, no cleanliness system ever existed, which meant it was only available to 20 to 30 million people residing in a few major cities, and a majority of the population (around 100m or so) had no such system. This all forced the government to launch the project across the province to collect and dispose of around 50,000 tonnes of solid waste daily, including 35,000 tonnes of garbage that was not being collected and disposed of at all, resulting in serious environmental and health issues.

The DG says the first problem the officers identified was that the number of monitoring officials to supervise cleanliness on major roads was low, which is now being increased in the total 200,000 sq km populated area of Punjab, having 80,000 provincial and district highways.

Similarly, it was also noted that the city areas should have a second shift of sanitary workers, which is being arranged now. Another problem that was identified was the low number of workers in union councils. Last year, each UC had six workers, but the number is being increased to 16 to ensure proper cleanliness. Likewise, the number of equipment will also be increased in UCs.

Previously, the waste management companies existed only in divisional headquarters, which are now being expanded to all district headquarters. “In various districts, the waste management agencies have been set up,” he says.

He says that due to the unavailability of a legal framework, the government has no mechanism to engage local or international companies in its waste-to-energy plans — the first proposed for Lahore to generate 40 to 50MW electricity. In the correction phase, the legal framework is being prepared for the purpose.

To a question, he says the programme’s total human resource strength has reached 150,000 workers and other staffers. Similarly, the number of equipment/machinery has also increased to 30,000 units engaged in collecting and disposing off 45,000 to 50,000 tonnes of solid waste daily.

To another question, the DG says the government’s role will be limited to facilitating the parties interested in participating in the bidding for waste-to-energy projects and providing potential electricity buyers, such as Sundar Industrial Estate, Orange Line project, city’s electric bus system, Knowledge Park, etc.

Sharing details about the role of the private sector, he said the private companies have invested Rs120 billion in the programme by procuring machinery and other resources. The government didn’t spend even a penny on this, as the project is designed on a public-private partnership (PPP) model.

“Previously, the government used to spend Rs45 billion annually for the cleanliness of a few major cities havingpopulations over 20 to 30 million. But now only Rs70 billion are being spent on the total population of 130m in terms of solid waste management by providing subsidy,” he explained.

To another question, he said the entire system, right from human resource to machinery to waste collection and disposal is digitised and being monitored online. According to him, the private companies engaged in the project are developing 150 landfill sites in cities and towns that never existed before.

“We are heading fast towards holding a Guinness World Records event in Lahore, and hopefully this programme will be entered in the Guinness Book of World Records,” he maintained.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2026