Private contractors engaged by the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board for waste collection and disposal in Karachi may face strict penalties, including heavy fines and show-cause notices, as the board has decided to intensify action against firms failing to deliver satisfactory sanitation services in different districts of the city.
The warning came during a meeting on Wednesday chaired by SSWMB Managing Director (MD) Tariq Ali Nizamani who met Pakistan Peoples Party’s town chairmen and vice-chairmen in Karachi to review the city’s cleanliness situation, preparations for Eidul Azha offal disposal, and a host of municipal and sanitation-related concerns.
The meeting focused on the worsening cleanliness challenges in several localities and the urgent need to improve coordination between the board, contractors and town administrations to prevent operational lapses, particularly ahead of Eidul Azha.
Briefing the participants on the SSWMB’s performance and future plans, Nizamani said show-cause notices had already been served on underperforming companies. He made it clear that further negligence would invite tougher punitive action, including substantial financial penalties.
He said companies responsible for waste collection and disposal would not be allowed to continue with inadequate manpower, insufficient vehicles or poor field management at the cost of public convenience and urban cleanliness.
The SSWMB MD directed the relevant firms to immediately increase machinery, operational vehicles and sanitary staff in areas facing shortages, and instructed them to conduct joint visits with town chairmen to assess local requirements and resolve persistent service gaps.
In a significant development, he informed the meeting that work on Pakistan’s first sanitary engineered landfill site was nearing completion. He said one cell of the landfill had already been completed, and the facility was expected to be inaugurated later this month, after which it would formally begin operations.
