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Admn sets ball rolling for Mohali waste-to-energy plant
Hands over MC 40 acres to further allot to National Thermal Power Corporation; civic body to construct boundary wall for Samgoli project within two months
Following the Punjab government’s nod to hand over the construction and operations of the waste-to-energy plant in Samgoli village of Dera Bassi to the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), the district administration has handed over the 40 acres of the total 50 acres for the project to the Mohali municipal corporation (MC).
Confirming the development, MC commissioner Kamal Kumar Garg said the civic body will construct the boundary wall for the project within two months, following which the land will be allotted to the NTPC.
Local bodies department additional chief secretary Sanjay Kumar said, “The agreement for constructing and maintaining the plant will be signed between the NTPC and the Mohali MC, the nodal agency for the project, after the approval of the cabinet, which will be done soon.”
The NTPC will build the 7-megawatt (MW) waste-to-energy plant over 50 acres under the build own operate (BOO) model, which will be completed within 18 months as part of GMADA-Patiala municipal solid waste cluster. The NTPC had already initiated such projects at Kawas in Surat (Gujarat), Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, Indore and East Delhi.
HANGING FIRE FOR A DECADE
The project has been hanging fire since 2010 when the MC had prepared the detailed project report (DPR) for a plant worth ₹100 crore, including land costs.
Presently, the waste is being dumped at an unauthorised dumping ground in the Phase 8B of Industrial Area, with locals and industrialists protesting over it. Mohali generates about 150 metric tonnes of garbage in a day.
The plant with a capacity to process up to 400 metric tonnes of waste per day will benefit 15 urban local bodies including Dera Bassi, Rupnagar, Kharar and Sirhind.
In March last year, Mohali was ranked 153rd out of 425 cities in the nationwide Swachh Surverkshan, the main reason being the civic body’s failure to set up a solid waste management system. The project also ran into rough weather because of litigation.
