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Abstract

The solid waste management is one of the major problems faced by the citizens of Karachi. It is estimated that Karachi generates 6000 tons of solid waste in a single day. Parks and roadside plantation remains one of the necessary requirements to develop any residential area, in accordance with the environmental standards. According to official sources, the estimated number of trees in Karachi ranges between 2.5 million to 3 million. However, environmental experts recommend that there must be a plant for every individual living in a city. (Dawn, 2009). This research tends to estimate the range of amount people are willing to pay for specific municipal services to any private organization. These services include Solid Waste Management, Parks and Horticulture (roadside plantation). For this purpose, Contingent Valuation method has been used for estimating peoples' willingness to pay (WTP) for the above-mentioned services. After analyzing the population expansion in the city, we restricted our study area to two different localities through a household survey which included Gulistan-e-Johar, Block 2 and North Karachi, sector 7/D-4. The survey results show that estimated WTP for the residents of Gulistan-e-Johar, Block 2, ranges from Rs 481 to 930. Different demographics of the other locality resulted in different ranges of WTP. In North Karachi, Sector 7/D-4, the estimated WTP ranges from Rs 329 to 504.

Keywords: Contingent Valuation, Willingness to Pay, Solid Waste Management, Horticulture

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1.Introduction

The process of generating, collecting, transporting, segregating and disposing of solid waste comes under 'Solid Waste Management' Solid waste includes all those items which are declared unwanted and useless by society. The waste may come from domestic, industrial, or healthcare activities. This type of waste is not disposed of by pipelines, therefore collected by concerned entities when thrown at streets or different places. After collection, the respective entities are responsible to segregate it into organic and inorganic waste. The organic waste is then used for composting and the remaining is transported to recycling plants or for incineration or at landfill sites. Studies have shown that a high percentage of workers who handle refused items and those who live near or on disposal sites, are infected with gastrointestinal parasites, worms, and related organisms. Cultivation of gardens or farms in urban...

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