Construction of the ambitious integrated solid waste processing plant at Dadumajra is finally expected to get underway this month.
Aimed at effectively tackling city’s daily waste generation of 550 metric tonnes (MT), the new plant, with a capacity of 600 tonnes per day, will comprise three facilities – one each for dry, wet and horticulture waste. Spread over 20 acres, it will be set up on a part of the Dadumajra landfill after clearing the area.
Of the 550 MT waste generated in the city daily, around 200 MT is dry and 350 MT wet.
Municipal commissioner Anindita Mitra said, “We will be floating tenders soon. Construction is expected to begin by the end of this month and hope that the plant will be ready by year end.”
On Saturday, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research - National Environment Engineering Research Institution (CSIR-NEERI), Nagpur, submitted its recommendations to MC. The report advised that the refuse-derived fuel (RDF) or byproducts produced from waste at the plant can be used to make coal to be sold to thermal plants, and the facility also have a bio methanation plant and composition plant for horticulture waste.
Mitra said, “Scientists from CSIR-NEERI visited the site in October last year and on Saturday gave their recommendations, which will be placed before the technical committee of MC for final approval. CSIR-NEERI will also vet the request for proposal (RFP) and detailed project report (DPR) on the design, engineering, finance, construction, supply, installation, commissioning, performance, operation and maintenance of the facility.”
For nearly a decade now, most of the city’s solid waste is being dumped unprocessed at the Dadumajra dumping site. MC had taken over of the existing plant from Jaypee Group in June 2020. But even after that the plant has been processing less than 50 MT of the total 550 MT waste generated in the city on a daily basis.
{{/usCountry}}For nearly a decade now, most of the city’s solid waste is being dumped unprocessed at the Dadumajra dumping site. MC had taken over of the existing plant from Jaypee Group in June 2020. But even after that the plant has been processing less than 50 MT of the total 550 MT waste generated in the city on a daily basis.
{{/usCountry}}Through a 2020 report, IIT Roorkee had recommended setting up a “modern” waste processing plant at the existing site in Dadumajra, as even after repairs, the plant can at best run at only 40% of its total capacity, leading to MC’s decision to set up an integrated plant for 100% processing of daily waste.
Notably, MC’s failure to run the solid waste processing plant efficiently has been among the reasons for Chandigarh’s poor show in the last few Swachh Survekshan rankings, and was also a central issue during the 2021 MC elections. The mountain of garbage at the Dadumajra landfill has also been blamed for a host of health issues in almost every household located in its vicinity.
A total of 12.7 lakh MT legacy waste is being cleared at the landfill to reclaim over 25 acres of land. Of this, 5 lakh MT from before 2005 is being bio-mined under a ₹33-crore Smart City project with an August 2023 deadline. The ₹68-crore project under the Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 is targeting the remaining 7.67 lakh MT legacy waste dumped at the Dadumajra site after 2005. Started in September 2022, the biomining work here will be completed by April 2026.