New garbage transfer station likely to be hazardous for city

KARACHI: The Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) has taken over the land of Karachi Development Authority (KDA) adjacent to Race Course near Safoora Chowrangi for the construction of a Garbage Transfer Station (GTS). However, building the GTS in District East is likely to prove hazardous for the city.

Schools and colleges in the area fear they will have to shut down operations while aviation authorities say that garbage will attract birds and that will affect the flights operations. Currently, the land serves as a depot where machinery imported from China is being housed.

Around 3.75 acres of land in Deh Safoora, Scheme 33, has an asphalt plant installed in it, which belongs to the KDA. Earlier, when Sharae Faisal was first remodelled, a retired official of the KDA told The Express Tribune, the plant was gifted by King Shah Faisal of Saudi Arabia to provide construction material.

Later, when in 2004 the area became populated and several schools were constructed, the asphalt plant was shut down. Residents and the management of the Race Course wrote to the then mayor of the city, Niamatullah Khan, and the KDA, after which Sindh Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) intervened and the plant was closed.

Currently, there are six schools and a college situated in a line near the asphalt plant. A plaque is placed just outside the boundary wall of the asphalt plant, which says that the former mayor of the city, Mustafa Kamal, had inaugurated a GTS at that spot, which, according to a retired official of KDA, could not materialise as Kamal’s tenure ended.

According to Crescent Bahria Cadet College admin incharge Zafar Iqbal, all the garbage of the locality around is dumped just outside the boundary wall of the asphalt plant. Nowadays, District Municipal Corporation (DMC) East vehicles frequent the dumping spot on a daily basis. Otherwise, he said, winds used to blow all the garbage during winter inside their college’s premises.

With the construction of the GTS, he pointed out, if the garbage of the entire District East starts landing adjacent to their college, they will not be able to continue their operations.

Flight operations

According to an official of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), birds gather wherever there is garbage. “Airport is a sensitive place,” he said, adding that if a bird collides with an airplane, it can damage both the engines at a time and that is why any GTS near the airport is severely discouraged.

However, the manager of Jinnah International Airport, Nisar Ahmed Brohi, said it was too early to ascertain if the flight operations will be affected with the construction of the GTS. If the GTS is covered and is at a sufficient distance from the airport, they will not have any problem.

Public hearing

Responding to the situation, Sepa Director-General Naeem Mughal said the SSWMB has submitted their Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) for all their six GTSs to be constructed in the city. However, a public hearing for that has yet to take place and the EIAs are undergoing the process of review.

In the public hearing, he said, all the stakeholders, including residents of the area, will be invited to air their grievances. Permission will then be given on merit alone, he added.

Environmental hazard

Dr Zafar Iqbal Shams of Karachi University’s Institute of Environmental Studies said daily household garbage includes organic matter. According to him, when the organic matter decomposes, it emits a pungent smell and very dangerous gases.

The area, where the GTS is to be constructed has Malir Cantt on one end, Jinnah International Airport on another and the heavily populated Gulistan-e-Jauhar on another. “There can be severe health issues for the residents of these areas if the entire District East’s garbage starts being dumped at the spot,” he said, recommending that the GTS be shifted somewhere near new Sabzi Mandi on Super Highway.

Authority’s version

Meanwhile, SSWMB Managing Director Dr AD Sajnani said the GTSs are constructed within the cities across the world. The important thing, he said, is to keep it clean and covered. “Garbage is part and parcel of life but we have to make [its disposal] better scientifically,” he said. To this, Shams responded that it has to be seen how the authorities will be able to cover such a large piece of land.

Source: The Express Tribune