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Project Management Unit - Integrated Solid Waste Management, City District Government Lahore (CDGL)

Project Monitoring, Evaluation & Control                                           Usman Kabir 4 Oct 2011                                                                           Fall 2011 – MM – 001

Background 1.	Lahore City District Government is spread over an area of 1.772 sq kms and has a population of 8 million which is divided into 9 towns comprising of 150 union councils. The daily waste production of the city is approx 6,000 tons. 1 2.	With a growing population of 3.5% pa, Lahore city faces the problem which is prevailing in other urban areas of Pakistan ie inadequate Solid Waste Management System (SWMS).

Problem in Existing SWMS 3.	The basic problems with the SWMS can be mainly categorized as following:- a.	Insufficient waste collecting equipment. b.	Lack of capacity of existing solid waste management department at CDGL to run the system on modern lines. c.	Lack of funds for equipment, operations, maintenance and personnel. d.	Community reluctance to pay for solid waste collection fees. e.	Hygiene issues. f.	Insufficient official garbage collection points. g.	Numerous complaints against quality of work of sweepers – most of them are over 45 years of age and have health issues.

Objective of Project 4.	In order to rectify the above mentioned problems and improve the Solid Waste Management System, private sector participation in an integrated SWMS is to be implemented under the private-public partnership (PPP) for which a Project Monitoring Unit was created to monitor activities of private firm on behalf of CDGL for a period of 3 years.

Key Stake-holders 5.	a. DCO Lahore 					-	Project Manager b.	SWM, City District Government, Lahore – 	Sponsor c.	General Public 				-	Customer d.	PMU-ISWM					-	Performing organization e.	PMU staff					-	Project team-members. 6.	Existing Waste Management Department – CDGL

Organizational Chart DCO Lahore DO SWM DO Planning		Dy DO Estb		DO Workshop 1		DO Workshop 2

Key:	DCO = District Coordinating Officer (BPS – 20) DO = District Officer (BPS -18)

a.	District Officers (BPS-18) are either officers of CDGL, Punjab Public Service Commission or Civil Service of Pakistan (District Management Group). b.	Dy DO (Finance) of CDGL was given additional task to manage accounts of SWM dept. c.	Remaining officers have been promoted through ranks at CDGL. d.	10,000 sweepers out of which approx 4,000 are permanent employees of CDGL.

Log of Events 5.	a. CDGL launched an international tender in 2009 to seek Expression of Interest from foreign companies to take-over solid waste management system of Lahore City for disposal of waste from collection centers to land-fill site in a scientific manner. It was proposed that the existing SWM department would be given under control of foreign company thus improving the cleanliness of city. The idea was that these firm would collect waste for which they need a fee which will later be adjusted as the waste will be sold back to this firm for incineration - electricity generation/conversion to organic waste - thereby giving revenue to the CDGL. b.	In response, companies from China and Korea expressed their interest in Jan 2010. Due to poor response, another tender was launched in which a company from France also participated besides two local companies. c.	Since CDGL does not have the capacity to under-take this PPP project, a project management unit was proposed to provide Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) support to CDGL. Due to government procedures, approval from Chief Minister was obtained by May 2009. Budget in PC-1 is given below:- 1)	Rs 20 million for Plant, Machinery and office supplies. 2)	Rs 50 million for salaries of PMU staff for one year. Note: This amount is exclusive of Rs 2 billion for SWM department out of which Rs 700 million was used in last FY for purchase of equipment & machinery and Rs 1.3 billion for pay/pensions. d.	1st batch of interviews was conducted in Jun 2009 by a team of CDGL, Urban Planning Unit and Planning & Development Department-Government of Punjab. The former two departments are responsible for planning of urban facilities in Punjab and act as an advisory body. The short-listed candidates were again interviewed by District Coordination Officer (DCO) in Jul 2009 as he was also the Project Director of this PMU-ISWM. Due to tough criteria set in the PC-1, Deputy Project Director, who is supposed to run the show, and most of the managers could not be hired. e.	Without change in job specifications, vacant posts were re-advertised. Many managers joined by Dec 2009/Jan 2010. However, technical posts could not be filled due to difficult criteria and shortage of SWM experts in Punjab. f.	A building for Project office was provided by CDGL and was renovated in Jan 2010. First tender for purchase of office equipment was launched in Nov 2009. However, computers/laptops could not be purchased as the selected vendor erroneously quoted low prices. Procurement Expert did not give order to next party as in his opinion they will deceive by supplying low quality equipment. Thus a re-tender was launched in Mar 2010 and finally orders were placed in May 2010 with a delivery time of 6 weeks. g.	Meanwhile, the foreign companies failed to submit financial part of bid due to then prevailing law and order situation of Pakistan. However, it was decided3 in Oct 2009 to continue with the PMU by utilizing expertise of its staff at CDGL in general and SWM Department in particular as the recruitment has already taken place. Due to lack of leadership, these employees were tasked on individual basis by DO SWM on behalf of DCO Lahore. h.	After seeing the status, HR & Admin and Procurement Experts left the PMU in May 2010. They were followed by GIS Officer who had to carry-out marking of Lahore City in SWM management. i.	 1)	Land-fill site expert was posted at Mahmood Boti land-fill site but was given an operational task to manage the flow of 300 trucks per 8 hours shift which he could not handle efficiently thus bringing bad name to PMU. 2)	Contract Management Expert, a Civil Engineer by profession, was given additional task of Deputy Project Manager since Feb 2010 but was unable to take work out of entry level officers and was unable to manage daily issues of sweepers due to politics. 3)	Although PMU staff, especially young professionals, was ‘un-willing to work’, they carried out following tasks successfully when asked by DO SWM:-			a)	Tracking of SWM vehicles through satellite. b)	Raising of Lahore Waste Management Company and Lahore Meat Company.			c)	Designing of new land filled site. d)	Inspection of tasks assigned by DCO. j.	Keeping in view the poor response of foreign firms and scope of PMU, it was decided that a new company would be formed by CDGL which would improve the SWMS of Lahore in collaboration of Ishtak – a Turkish firm – as a result of visit of Chief Minister to Turkey. k.	The post of Managing Director Lahore Waste Management Company was advertised in May 2010 but an ex DCO (BPS-20) is appointed on this post by CM. l. 	Remaining staff of PMU were interviewed and only two joined the new company in Dec 2010. Contracts of PMU staff expired after one year which were not extended. Till then MD utilized the resources of PMU. All sanitary workers/equipment of SWM department was given to LWMC on lease of 25 years.

Reasons for Failure 6.	a. Lack of Response of Foreign Firms. Due to increase in terrorist activities in Lahore, foreign firm did not participated in financial bid. Poor law and order discouraged foreign investment due to which PMU was unable to function with the given scope. b.	Absence of dedicated DPD at PMU. Since DPD could not be selected in time, PMU was unable to function as an entity and its working was not high-lighted at appropriate level in positive manner. DCO Lahore was made Project Director who was occupied in other important issues. c.	Internal Environment. PMU staff became victim of internal conflicts between managers which also divided young officers in groups. They had the ability to work but did not work unless asked. d. 	External Environment 1)	SWM officers, were much more experienced, did not want to involve PMU staff as the later were too young and had only theoretical knowledge. 2)	They had a biased approach and did not want to share practical knowledge with PMU staff. 3)	SWM sweepers and lower staff considered PMU staff as threat to their temporary jobs and were not supportive. 4)	Urban Unit considered creation of PMU as over-stepping in their domain. e. 	Lack of equipment especially office, furniture and computers affected working environment and morale of PMU young staff. f.	Seeing no progress on PMU, many managers had started applying for other jobs and left the project before one year. g. 	Poor Planning for PMU. Proper planning was not done due to which scope of PMU was very limited ans it was bound to fail due to absence of foreign bidders. Urban Planning Unit considered it unnecessary as they were carrying planning for whole province. h. 	Criteria for Recruitment. The experience requirement was very tough in case of technical persons due to which they were unable to hire DPD and SWM Expert who could have made the PMU operational. i.	Bureaucratic approach. Despite forming PMU, approval by CM for deviation in policies like recruitment and procurement caused delay. TO remove such in-efficiencies, LWMC – a company – was formed.

Earned Value 7. 	The successful implementation of the PMU in the presence of a foreign bidder would have generated revenue for the CDGL. This amount can not be ascertained as financial bids were not received. However, CDGL lost budget kept in PC-1 for PMU renovation, salaries and office equipment. Moreover, the general public could not get better services in terms of SWMS and almost a year was lost. Conclusion 8.	In short, the failure of this PMU ISWM can be attributed to lack of leadership at senior level besides its limited scope.

References 1.	Website of City District Government, Lahore. 2.	The Dawn News report in Jun 2011 3.	The Nation of 12 Dec 2009 4.	Website of Urban Planning Unit 5.	Interview with ex PMU employees – Mr Usman Kabir,Procurement Expert, Mr Jawad Rabbani, SWM Expert, Ms Durre Shahwar, Young Professional SWM, Mr Shahzad YP Finance, Mr Aatif Shuja, HRM Expert etc