LAHORE The Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) has suggested that the Punjab government should include solid waste disposal fee, especially from commercial and industrial consumers, through any utility bill, such as electricity, gas or water, because the company is unable to collect the fee directly from the consumers.
Sources said the proposal has already been sent to the Punjab chief minister for approval but the government is not taking any decision on this due to its political implications. The sources said the LWMC, which was established in March 2010, is still living on government loans and grants and has failed to device a revenue collection strategy.
The sources added the company had repeatedly tried to collect waste disposal fee from commercial markets and industrial units but faced a lot of resistance. A senior company official, seeking anonymity, said the company was only able to collect waste collection charges from those commercial and industrial units where no union existed.
The LWMC has also given the government a proposal to allow it to outsource waste collection fee, the sources said, adding that the company’s chairman had strongly opposed outsourcing revenue collection and auction of collection rights due to its political implications.
The company in its proposal, the sources went on to say, also asked the government to include market unions and local politician parts of waste collection fee committee for its smooth working. Following its failure in waste collection fee, the company has also revised its revenue collection targets for FY 2013-14 from Rs 130 million to Rs 40 million.
The sources said the company was already getting a subsidy of around three billion rupees per annum from the City District Government Lahore (CDGL). They said the company had also started sale of waste to increase its revenue, but at present that portion was just peanuts.
LWMC’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Rana Arif while taking with The News said the company had improved its revenue collection to Rs 30 million. He said the targets were also revised during the previous year because of the similar reason.
He said administrative, political and enforcement support was needed to further increase the revenues as well as the recovery. In case the government rejected LWMC’s proposal then it has to continue giving financial support to the company, he maintained.
The company is also developing other means to increase its revenue collection but 80 to 90 per cent collection and revenue targets can only be met through waste collection fee, he added.
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