Murad Ali Shah opens Jam Chakro landfill site, says no majority for new provinces

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has said there is currently no majority in the country to create new provinces. He said this while talking to the media at the opening of a modern landfill site at Jam Chakro.

On Monday, the chief minister inaugurated the first phase of Sindh’s first sanitary engineered landfill project by cutting a ribbon. He also had waste dumping started at the site. Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, Labour Minister Saeed Ghani and Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab were among the senior officials present at the ceremony. Project Director Usman Moazzam and Nasir Hussain Shah briefed the chief minister.

The project is being built with financial and technical support from the World Bank. Its estimated cost is $105 million, of which the World Bank is providing $100 million and the Sindh government $5 million. The chief minister put the total cost at about Rs14 billion. A lining system, including geotextile, has been installed on the site of about 150 acres to protect the land from contamination. A separate system has also been built for leachate.

The briefing said three engineered cells have been completed and overall progress on the construction package stands at 61.67 per cent. The target is to complete the remaining work by 30 November 2026. Murad Ali Shah directed that the weighbridge work properly and that daily records be kept. He also mentioned the possibility of generating electricity from methane gas.

Talking to the media, he said a total of five modern cells are being built at the site and their construction will be completed by December. According to him, Karachi’s waste will be disposed of in a scientific and organised manner. This will reduce environmental problems and the stench. He said world-standard waste disposal points will also be set up in other Districts of the city. Four transfer stations are also being built at Sharafi Goth, Danga Mor, Imtiaz and Gutter Baghicha, with a combined capacity of 6,500 tonnes a day.

Asked about governor’s rule, he said it is constitutional but not democratic, and that nobody wants the province’s elected government removed. He said terrorism is the country’s biggest problem, and asked what can be said when provinces are told not to take action.

On the Mir Raza case, he said the cabinet had decided to form a judicial commission. The cabinet itself will now open the sealed envelope containing the commission’s report and decide.