Lahore:
The ambitious project of Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) aimed at converting Mehmood Booti’s discharge into a solar park and in the urban forest is progressing rapidly, the authorities expect to complete the first phase by July and the second phase by the end of the year.
The initiative, supported by an investment of five billion rupees, aims to convert methane gas emissions from the usable energy discharge while generating carbon credits.
For decades, the piles of imposing waste from Mehmood Booti, located north of Lahore Ring Road, posed environmental and serious health risks, in particular for LWMC workers and neighboring residents due to persistent smells and methane emissions.
Now, the 42 -acres site – once almost 80 feet high – is rehabilitated with soil cover and redesigned as a sustainable energy and leisure center.
The discharge, which was the main Lahore discharge site until 2016 before the elimination of waste moves to Lakhodair, is now a key element of the “Punjab” initiative of the Punjab government. Supervised by LWMC and the Ravi Urban Development Authority (Ruda), the project includes a large -scale methane gas extraction system, where the plastic pipelines installed will capture and treat gas for sale to neighboring industries.
In addition, an 11 acres solar park at the top of the discharge will generate approximately 5 megawatts of electricity, while the remaining 31 acres will be transformed into an urban forest with trees and walking trails. The CEO of Ruda, Imran Amin, estimated that the sale of carbon credits could bring two to three billion rupees per year, with additional biogas income.
