RAWALPINDI, March 8: A project to install a plant in Rawalpindi for producing energy from garbage has hit snags over collecting and transporting it to the main dumping site, Dawn has learnt.
On January 8 this year, a committee comprising district and provincial officials had selected a private firm, Waste Management of Pakistan (WMP), for installing the first Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) plant at Losar, the main garbage dumping site in Rawalpindi.
The committee headed by Commissioner Rawalpindi Division Zahid Saeed comprised DCO Rawalpindi Imdadullah Bosal, and the representatives of Planning and Development (P&D), Public Health Engineering (PHE) and the Urban Unit Punjab (UUP).
But sources said differences have emerged between the Punjab government`s Urban Unit and the firm over the collection and transportation of the garbage to the dumping site. Sources add that the officials are now considering blacklisting the firm for what they call `wasting precious time` of the government.
According to the agreement between the Punjab government`s Urban Unit and the company, the district administration was to sell garbage to the company at Rs50 per ton. The total generation of waste in Rawalpindi city is around 800 tons daily, which means the district administration will earn Rs40,000 a day after the plant is installed and starts working.
Asif Farooqui, chief executive WMP, told Dawn that the provincial government had pledged to hand over garbage to the company at Losar. “But now they want us to lift the garbage on our own,” he said. “It is the responsibility of the district administration to lift and hand over garbage to the company at Losar. This was the main condition in our proposal,” he said.
Dr M Nasir, director general of the Punjab government`s Urban Unit, was hopeful of settling down differences with the company.
He hinted at starting talks with the WMP to get the plant installed for converting waste materials into gas, electricity and fertilisers. “Though there are many things to be cleared between the company and the government, the matters will be settled eventually. I hope the project will materialise,” Dr Nasir said.
According to Mr Farooqui, the RDF plant was worth Rs10 million euros (Rs1.2 billion).
He asked the provincial government to facilitate the project for giving a clean look to Rawalpindi.
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