District Nazim Lahore Mian Amer Mahmood and Chairman Lahore Compost Limited (a consortium of Saif Group, Menart Company of Belgium and Green Technology Pakistan) Anwar Saif Ullah, on Thursday signed an agreement for setting up a composting plant at a cost of Rs 250 million in the city for converting solid waste into organic fertilisers.
Punjab Local Bodies Minister Muhammad Basharat Raja, Belgian Ambassador in Pakistan Patrick X. Renault, Export Manager of Menart Company Belgium Jean-Luc, Trade Commissioner Abid M. Hussain, DCO Khalid Sultan, EDOs of all the district departments and other officials concerned attended the ceremony held in the office of District Nazim.
Mian Amer said that the project, which would be first of its kind in Pakistan, would be executed on BoT basis, and ownership of the plant would be transferred to the City District Government Lahore after 25 years.
CDGL would provide a 300-kanal piece of land at Mahmood Booti landfill site for setting up compost plant, which would become operational within one-year, as per terms and conditions of the agreement, he added.
The plant would separate organic components from the solid waste and would manufacture more than 75,000 tonnes of fertilisers annually after consuming and recycling 1,000 tonnes of waste daily.
The waste components like glass, metals and paper would be sorted out and the kitchen waste would be converted into organic fertiliser, he maintained.
The investors would pay 10-percent of their profit to the City District Government for utilising this amount for social sector development projects. Besides ensuring availability of fertilisers, the plant would also help keeping the city neat and clean, he asserted.
The agreement has been inked after assessing environmental impact of the project on the directives of Lahore High Court.
Ms NESPAK, after carrying out a detailed study, had opposed burning of waste, as smoke produced thereafter was the major cause of air pollution and environmental degradation.
He said that negotiations were going on with other investors for installing more composting plants in the city for power generation and manufacturing fertilisers, he said.