KARACHI: The Managing Director of Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) Tariq Ali Nizamani has assured full support & cooperation from SSWMB in making SITE area Clean & Green under the umbrella of SITE Association of Industry. He has stressed the need of close coordination among the signatories of the MOA to achieve this objective.
He was addressing members of SITE Association of Industry on the occasion of his visit the other day. He was accompanied by high officials of his department. The Managing Director of SITE Limited Syed Arif Ahmed Zaidi was also present in the meeting along with his team.
The Managing Director, SSWMB, further said that he has been associated with SSWMB for 6 years in various capacities and is very well aware of issues & problems being faced by industries of SITE area related to his department. He expressed the hope that like SITE, the solid waste lifting agreement will be signed with other industrial areas soon. The Sindh govt. passed the Solid Waste Act in 2014 and phase-wise implemented from 2016 onward. He informed that solid waste generation from Karachi is around 14000 tons/day. Keeping in view the sensitivity of the matter, the honourable Lahore High Court last year ordered every organization to hold awareness sessions on environment & solid waste management. He quoted that waste management is included in the syllabus of Japan schools and informed that modern GTS are being established this year.
The representatives of SSWMB complained about throwing of garbage into nullah and shortage of funds & required staff for nullah cleaning, to which, the representative of SITE Limited replied that since only 30pc solid waste is being lifted, the remaining goes to nullah. The only solution is to lift 100pc solid waste from the area for which there is a need to deploy more resources from the SSWMB. SSWMB representative requested SITE Limited to share details of small, medium and large industries to ascertain the quantum of solid waste.
The Managing Director of SITE Limited, present on this occasion, offered his relevant staff and machinery and added that whatever resources SITE Limited have, are available to SSWMB for the betterment of the area. He directed his staff to provide details of industries as requested to the SSWMB. He announced strict action and imposition of fines on those industries found throwing garbage in nullah or on road side. One of the representatives of SITE Limited said that there is a need to make a schedule for nullah cleaning, which should be done preferably on a quarterly basis.
Earlier, SITE President Ahmed Azeem Alvi welcomed the MD SSWMB and MD SITE LTD to the meeting and said that today’s agenda is to devise a strategy to implement Clean & Green SITE drive. We are ready to facilitate SSWMB in the implementation of MOA signed among SITE Limited and SSWMB and SITE Association of Industry. Speaking on SSWMB bills payment, the President suggested that short payment or part payment should be allowed in the system instead of full bill amount and offered to send bills of SSWMB through the Association.
Chief Coordinator Saleem Parekh, while referring to earlier meeting held in Nov-2024 with the then MD, SSWMB said that there is need to reduce communication gap between the two key players i.e. SSWMB and SITE Limited. With the resources currently available to SSWMB, they are doing a good job. Lifting of Municipal Solid Waste, domestic solid waste being dumped in SITE limits, debris lifting, door to door garbage collection and cleaning of nullah came under detailed discussion in the meeting and many members raised queries related to these which were responded to by the SSWMB team. He suggested discussing the agreement and emphasised the need to fix a timeline for every task so as to check progress.
SVP Khalid Riaz said that since the SITE area is large, the workforce should be increased and suggested to increase resources from SSWMB. VP Muhammad Riaz Dhedhi said that solid waste is not lifted completely and requested to lift dry ash from the area. At this, the President added that each & every type of solid waste (non-hazardous) should be lifted by SSWMB to make the area clean & green.
Former SVP Saleem Nagaria on this occasion suggested to discuss issues together with solutions. There was emphasis on controlling dumping of solid waste from the residents in the vicinity of SITE area and to increase dumping points for garbage lifting from identified more than 100 Roads. It was decided to form a Coordination Committee comprising 3 representatives each from SITE Limited, SSWMB and SITE Association of Industry for improved interaction and quick action on member’s complaints.
Those present in the meeting included Muhammad Kamran Arbi, Azeem Motiwala, Muhammad Kamran Lakhany, Aman Naseem, Muhammad Tahir Goreja, Aman Naseem, Haris Shakoor, Nazar Jatoi (SITE LTD), Faheemuddin Shaikh (SITE LTD), Saifullah (SITE LTD), Ghulam Nabi (SSWMB), Farhan Lodhi (SSWMB), Waheed-ur-Rehman (SSWMB), Raheel (SSWMB) and others.