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Despite opposition, Chandigarh MC floats RFP for integrated waste processing plant
Proposal has been made for 17 years, including two years for plant construction, and 15 years for operations and maintenance
Notwithstanding local residents and opposition councillors’ objection to the proposed integrated waste processing plant at Dadumajra, the Chandigarh municipal corporation on Friday floated the request-for-proposal (RFP), seeking proposals from private firms to set up the project.
Proposal has been made for 17 years, including two years for plant construction, and 15 years for operations and maintenance.
Sharing this development, mayor Anup Gupta said MC had floated the RFP after getting a nod from the General House on June 6. “The plant is to be constructed on design, finance, own, operate and transfer basis. MC will provide land and viability gap funding, if required,” he said.
He said 20 acres of Dadumajra landfill had recently been reclaimed through bio-mining of legacy waste and 15 acres of this will be used for setting up the plant. The hired agency will have to construct the plant within two years.
The mayor further said the plant will be set up to process 550 tonnes of dry and wet waste daily with an additional capacity of 25%. IIT Ropar drafted the detailed project report and the RFP on technology was recommended by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research - National Environment Engineering Research Institution (CSIR-NEERI), Nagpur.
The high-power technical committee, constituted by the Chandigarh administration, approved the RFP vetted by NEERI.
The mayor added that as per NEERI recommendations, accepted by the high-power technical committee, the wet waste will be converted into biomethane and CNG, while dry waste will be converted into refuse-derived fuel that will be supplied to cement plants as fuel.
“It will be a state-of-the-art plant, compliant with most stringent norms of the Pollution Control Board and other regulatory authorities. Establishment of the new plant will allow processing of 100% waste generated in the city daily. This will resolve the age-old issue of dumping of unprocessed waste at the Dadumajra landfill, thereby improving the living conditions of area residents,” Gupta added.
During the House meeting on June 6, the mayor had suspended all 13 AAP councillors for a day after they had a heated verbal spat with local BJP MP Kirron Kher and got them forcibly removed. Following this, the new plant’s agenda was cleared by the BJP councillors, who are 14 in number and in majority in the 35-member House.
The seven Congress councillors had alleged that they were not given a chance to speak and plan to meet the UT administrator to declare all proceedings of the meeting null and void.
