ISLAMABAD: A subcommittee of the Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change visited the site of a proposed landfill in Sangjani on Thursday, where the convener said a permanent landfill is the need of the hour in Islamabad.

The subcommittee, led by Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, was briefed by a consultant and the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) director sanitation.

The capital, which generates around 600 metric tons of waste every day, has been without a permanent landfill since it was made. In its absence, garbage is dumped in the underdeveloped I-12 sector.

Senator Syed said during the visit that Islamabad has been deprived of a permanent landfill because of the criminal negligence of successive management.

He added that the CDA had allocated a landfill site in Kuri, Zone IV, years ago, but then abandoned the project.

When Senator Syed asked the Capital Development Authority (CDA) member planning if there was any mala fide intention for abandoning the project, CDAMember Hafiz Ehsanul Haq surprised those present by admitting that there was.

He also said that the CDA built an exclusive road for this project that it later abandoned.

CDA of ficials Dawn spoke to believe that the Kuri site was abandoned by the CDA to benefit the housing societies in that area.

The Kuri site was chosen in 2004 by an international consultant`s report, following approval from the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA).

The CDA board announced in 2012 that the landfill would be moved to H-10, wherea temporary site was established. Since then, the site has moved from one area to another on a temporary basis.

Senator Syed described the absence of a permanent landfill for a city of more than two million people as `criminal negligence of successive governments`.

He said the committee would ensure that work starts soon, adding that when the Kuri site was selected in 2004, a foreign donor had even promised a grant for the project, which was mysteriously shelved.

`This act of criminal negligence was done to protect vested interests at the expense ofthe people of Islamabad,` he said.

He said that the Sangjani site was apparentlyideal.

`Work should be started soon after the legal formalities are completed,` he said.

Committee member Senator Mohammad Ali Khan Saif said: `It is unfortunate that so many decades after the capital was established we do not even have a garbage dumping site. Now the authorities have to take practical steps.

Pak-EPA Director General Dr Farzana Altaf Shah directed the project`s consultant to carry out environmental impact assessmentsof the Sangjani site as well as another site in Mandra to `justify`whether Sangjaniisthe perfectlocation.

Committee assesses condition of nullahs The parliamentarians also visited various nullahs to assess their environmental condition and the committee observed that there is no sanitation system in place for katchi abadis and unauthorised buildings in Islamabad.

The committee decided to hold another meeting on nullahs, as nearly all 20 of them are contaminated and filthy.

It was decided that all stakeholders would be invited to a future subcommittee meeting to share their concerns, and government departments would present their plans to mitigate the situationwith planned timelines.

The committee was told that all 20 nullahs in Islamabad`s sectors have similar problems, whether they are in upscale localities or katchi abadis, of unplanned construction without sewerage or sanitation facilities and the absence of a nullah management system.

The director sanitation said that in addition to unplanned slums, the Pakistan Navy in E-8 is also disposing of sewage into a nullah.

`The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and the navy both used to throw sewage into nullahs, but now the PAF has fixed the problem while the navy is still violating our rules,` he said.

The committee`s convenor directed the director to issue a notice to the navy for throwing sewage into a nullah.

The committee visited a nullah in E-11 that is contaminated by private housing societies and high-rise commercial buildings in the sector. The committee directed the sanitation directorate to take action against the violators.