Lahore
There is not a single Solid Waste Recycling Plant in the province of Punjab. End-to-End service delivery in Solid Waste Management is the need of the hour. This was said by Najeeb Aslam, Director of Local Government Academy Lalamusa in a conference organised by Sub National Governance (SNG) programme funded by Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) of the Government of United Kingdom in collaboration with the government of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Solid Waste Management.
The conference was attended by government stakeholders, development partners, sector experts and think tanks, working on municipal services and especially on solid waste management. The idea was to gel together for identifying, analysing and finding solutions to the complex issues of solid waste management across Pakistan.
Local governments in Pakistan play a crucial role in service delivery, with up to 80% of local government budgets (excluding special grants) allocated to service delivery.
The Sub National Governance Programme (SNG) was designed to work with provincial and local governments to improve planning, financial management, and governance that leads to better quality, demand-driven and more equitable services for citizens.
SNG has launched a flagship project of End-to-End Service Delivery Pilot for Solid Waste Management in Municipal Committee Kasur in Punjab and Tehsil Municipal Administrations Bahrain and Babuzai in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, being three of the several SNG’s pilot LGs in both the provinces. The end-to-end pilot approach is composite of several interventions such as SWM Needs Assessment study, Service Delivery/Performance Plan, Advocacy and Technical Support for the Execution of the Service Delivery Plan, Post Execution Monitoring and Evaluation etc.
Solid Waste Management (SWM) has been relatively a low priority sector in public sector service provision in Pakistan. Perhaps the contemporary policy, legal, institutional, and regulatory frameworks do not sufficiently support a modern, integrated and sustainable system of solid waste management by small, medium and large municipalities in Pakistan
Solid waste is growing at alarmingly fast pace with a projected growth of solid waste generation soaring every passing day. According to the World Bank Cities, by 2050, waste production will be 73% higher than it was in 2020. Hence, Solid Waste is not merely a sanitation issue in Pakistan only but has far reaching effects on our overall public health management, environmental degradation and social outlook around the world.
Within the SDGs also, waste services visibly feature in the targets and indicators of both SDG 11 and SDG 12, which bound the signatory states to prevent, reduce, recycle and reuse, as well as to properly collect and discharge, urban solid waste and halve global food waste by 2030.
Conference lead to meaningful suggestions on ways to strengthen Punjab and KP’s solid waste management systems.
This conference provided support to all government endeavours for strengthening municipal waste service delivery that will help contain the adverse impacts of solid waste and nurture a healthy environment for all. It was attended by Hashoo Foundation, SDPI, CPDI, Akhtar Hameed Khan Memorial Trust, IGC (LSE), AAWAZ, Local Government Board Punjab, Urban Unit Punjab, Punjab Municipal Development Fund Company, Urban Policy Unit KP, Deputy Commissioner Kasur and Nankana, Rural Sanitation and Water Supply, P&D Punjab, Waste Management Companies of Lahore, Bahawalpur, Sialkot and Multan, WSSC Swat, WSSC Bannu, WSSP, TMO Thal, TMO Lachi, TMO Daggar Buner, RMO Kohat, TMO Bittani and Lakki Marwat.
Naveed Aziz from FCDO thanked the participants from both provinces and ensured the FCDO support to both provincial governments in achievement of SWM goals.
