Ghaziabad: Municipal corporation seeks 40 acre of land for solid waste disposal

The officials of the corporation said the waste-to-energy plant in Galand, a project conceived in 2018, has not progressed and they are facing land availability issues to dispose of the city’s daily solid waste

Facing issues in processing of daily solid-waste due to scarcity of land, the Ghaziabad municipal corporation has asked the district administration to provide it 40 acres of land for solid waste disposal. The officials of the corporation said the waste-to-energy plant in Galand, a project conceived in 2018, has not progressed and they are facing land availability issues to dispose of the city’s daily solid waste.

The city, with 100 residential wards, generates about 1,400 metric tonnes of daily solid waste and it is currently getting processed at an 11 acre site on Pipeline Road. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The city, with 100 residential wards, generates about 1,400 metric tonnes of daily solid waste and it is currently getting processed at an 11 acre site on Pipeline Road. Earlier, the processing was being done in Morta but the plant faced opposition from nearby educational institutions.

“To process the daily solid waste, we need 40 acres of land and we have written to officials to make arrangements for land for setting up a waste processing facility. The plans for waste-to-energy plant in Galand have not been dropped but any activity there faces opposition from locals. Our temporary waste processing facility is slowly getting saturated and we need more land,” said Vikramaditya Singh Malik, municipal commissioner.

The proposed site in Galand in Hapur district is spread over 44.26 acres. The land was handed over to the corporation by the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) for the plant, which officials said will cater to the solid waste from three local bodies -- Ghaziabad, Pilkhuwa and Hapur.

The plant is proposed to have a processing capacity of around 2500 metric tonnes. But till date, the different agencies have not been able to construct even a boundary wall at the site in Galand.

A part of it was demolished by residents in November 2021. The state government in 2018 had assigned the construction work of the plant in Galand to a Netherlands based company.

“Going by the slow pace of development, it is suspected that the plant in Galand may not be ready soon. Further, the corporation is getting burdened and will face issues as GDA has got developed several huge residential townships and corporation will have to cater to their solid waste as well,” said Sunita Dayal, city mayor.

Recently, the GDA in its 2031 draft Master Plan earmarked solid waste sites away from residential areas. The GDA officials said these have been proposed near Raj Nagar Extension and Loni, among others.

“The provision has been duly made for solid waste processing sites in the draft plan. We will discuss the requirement of land and will take an appropriate decision,” said Rajesh Kumar Singh, secretary, GDA.

On November 25, the GDA board cleared the final draft of Master Plan 2031 which is now a unified plan for Ghaziabad, Loni and Modinagar/Muradnagar.