Staff Reporter
The federal capital, which generates over 700 metric tonns of waste daily, may get a permanent landfill site in Sangjani after many abortive attempts.
The private consultant, hired by the Metropolitan Corporation of Islamabad (MCI) to conduct feasibility of two sites in Mandra and Sangjani, had selected Sangjani for developing a permanent dumping site of the capital city, a senior official in MCI Sanitation Directorate told media on Sunday.
The official said the site near Sangjani was selected by the consultant due to its minimum hauling distance, suitable topography, distant from aircraft route for flight safety and socio-environmental factors.
The Environment Assessment Impact (EAI) report of both the sites, prepared by the consultant, had been forwarded to the Ministry of Climate Change and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Pakistan for further action, the official maintained.
He said the EPA would conduct the hearing over the report and visit the site before giving the final approval. The process would take one or two months, he added.
The EPA, he said, would evaluate the water table of the site to ensure that the underground water of the area would not be polluted by dumping of around 700-800 metric tons of garbage and municipal solid waste per day.
To a query, the official said the land near Sangjani spread over 70 acres and the department had formally requested to the Capital Development Authority (CDA) for acquiring the said land from the Forest Department on lease.
For the last four decades, the civic agency proposed several areas including Kuri landfill to permanently dump the garbage in the city but seems still at pains to scientifically dispose of the total generated trash.
The waste is still being dumped in a residential area of I-12 sector which has been created as a temporary measure by the CDA.
That site is today overflowing with trash. As a result, its residents are complaining of a host of problems, including a constant nauseating smell emanating from it.
Jawad Haider from Sector I-12 said all the waste of the federal capital was being dumped in a residential area that spread infectious diseases in the locality.
Jawad said he had lodged several complaints at different platforms but to no avail, urging the authorities concerned to shift the sites in the outskirts of Islamabad at the earliest.
A woman from Sector G-6 said they had to shut their doors and windows due to stinking smell emitting trash trolleys placed near their home. She urged the MCI to remove the dumpster installed before her house.
Residents of the federal capital are also perturbed over the poor management of solid waste and its collection from within the city and urged the authorities to adopt modern ways to collect household waste.
They complained about untimely collection of garbage from the dumpsters placed by the corporation at the corner of almost every street. Hence, these bins had turned into breeding spots for mosquitoes.
