RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: “The Punjab government is planning to initiate Rural Solid Waste Management System (RSWMP) in the rural areas with an objective to protect human health and improve quality of life. The Punjab government is very conscious about the almost non-existent system of the solid waste management (SWM) in villages of Punjab and is passionate to see litter-free Punjab in the forthcoming years,” said an official here on Thursday.

In this regard, the Local Government and Community Development Department (LG&CDD) with the technical support of the Urban Sector Planning and Management Services Unit (Pvt) Ltd (the Urban Unit) aims to develop the “Rural Solid Waste Management System” in the rural areas of the Punjab. The Urban Unit, apart from providing technical assistance to the LG&CDD, would be playing the role of executing agency by engaging/encouraging the private sector investment for the implementation of RSWMP.

This project is one of the important components of Khadim-e-Punjab Rural Sanitation Programme. Apart from cleanliness, the RSWMP’s key objectives would be to protect human health and improve quality of life in the rural areas of Punjab and to increase facilities in rural areas and control rural to urban migration.

The RSWMP aims to provide solid waste management services to total of 3,281 rural union councils in nine divisions of the Punjab. An estimated amount of 20,000 tons of municipal solid waste would be collected and transported on daily basis within this project.

In this connection, several meetings were held with different stakeholders chaired by Minister for LGCD Muhammad Mansha Butt. In these meetings, Urban Unit CEO Dr Nasir Javed explained the proposed model in detail. He especially emphasized on efficient monitoring of activities using advanced technologies of GIS. The minister praised the efforts of the Urban Unit in bringing the change in lives of rural population and provided practical insights for improvement of the system.