LAHORE – The ‘highest levels of Turkish government’ have contacted a waste management company in an ongoing row between two Turkish contractors and municipal authorities in eastern Pakistan, a spokesperson for the company said on Friday.
The Turkish companies, Oz Pak and Albayrak, have been in a contract with the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) to clean the populous city of Lahore since 2012, and their contracts stand to expire on Dec. 31 after a number of extensions this year. The LWMC has given the contractors space to set up workshops, garages and staff residences in the city.
But days before the formal end of the contract, the LWMC, alongside police and district administration on Monday, forcibly took control of six workshops— two in the occupation of Albayrak and four with Oz Pak. The move came despite a court’s stay order in place.
“We have taken up the matter with Turkish consulate in Pakistan as well as with Turkish foreign ministry,” Naeema Saeed, spokesperson for Albayrak told Arab News.
“The officials of Albayrak in Turkey have been contacted by the highest levels of Turkish government,” she said.
The Lahore High Court has directed LWMC it is not to use the equipment of its Turkish contractors until further notice, after Albayrak approached the high court against the ‘illegal act’ of the LWMC on Thursday, and obtained a stay order barring the use or delegation of its machinery.
“On 21st December at 2 am, LWMC in connivance with Punjab Police and under the protection of secretary local government, forcefully and illegally took illegal possession of our workshops and illegally removed Turkish staff from there and Turk staff was also manhandled,” Nizamattin Kocamese, CEO of Oz Pak, told Arab News on Friday.
The companies have said LWMC also took control of hundreds of its vehicles.
In response, LWMC told Arab News the Turkish companies had ‘refused to work,’ and that the repossession was part of the terms of their contract.
“The contract was extended four times, two months each, and the companies refused to work further. The LWMC, following the terms of the contract took over the control of machinery, workshop and vehicles as per law,” Jameel Khawar, spokesperson of LWMC, told Arab News on Friday.
“Article 29 of the agreement between the client (LWMC) and the contractor clearly says that all machinery, vehicles and other things will be handed over to the client without any additional cost,” he added.
Earlier in a press release, the LWMC said the move to take over the facilities was made with the consultation and consent of both contractors — a claim the companies have denied.
Lahore is the second biggest city in Pakistan with a population of 10 million people. The city generates 5,500 million tons of waste per day, and in recent weeks, the waste companies’ row turned many city roads into garbage dumping sites.
The waste was earlier managed by the city district government, but in 2012, the Shahbaz Sharif administration outsourced most of the service to Turkish waste management companies.
At present, the waste of 22 rural union councils are managed by the LWMC in contrast to 136 by Oz Pak and 116 by Albayrak.
In this undated photo, workers of Oz Pak pose for a picture in Lahore, Pakistan. (Photo courtesy: Oz Pak website)
In this undated photo, Lahore Waste Management Company's garbage truck passes by Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan. (Photo courtesy: Albayrak website)
Albayrak said the forceful actions of the LWMC would impact the confidence of foreign companies working in Pakistan.
“The LWMC company illegally seized our company’s equipment and committed a serious crime. We had stay orders from court regarding workshops and equipment,” Cagri Ozel, Project Coordinator at Albayrak, told Arab News on Friday.
“Our investment in Pakistan is not merely fiscal; we are emotionally invested in the country whose people stood with the people of Turkey in trying times,” he said.
“Taking possession of workshops, vehicles and all the articles were stayed by the order of the Honorable Civil Court. The LWMC not only committed contempt of court but also in violation of the principal agreement executed between government of Punjab and Oz Pak,” Syed Afzaal Shah, Project Director Oz Pak, told Arab News.
“A lot of our cash, laptops, computers and other personal belongings of Turkish and Pakistani staff were snatched during the illegal operation and rests with LWMC,” he said.
