The state capital’s massive waste dumping site that was shut down for use on November 30 may take a long time before it is scientifically closed, experts said here on Tuesday.
Spread across 5.36 hectares of land, the trenching ground on Sahastradhara Road was used for open and unscientific dumping of waste for over 15 years.
More than 10 lakh tonnes of waste has accumulated at the dumpsite over the years, according to Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) estimates.
It has now been replaced by a waste management project that has come up at Shishambara, around 20 km away from Dehradun.
The project, which comprises a waste processing plant and scientific landfill site, is currently undergoing trial operations and is likely to be officially inaugurated in January.
The DMC, however, is yet to begin work on carrying out scientific closure of the original site.
Dr Kailash Gunjyal, senior municipal health officer of the DMC, said the civic body has called for expression of interest (EOI) from potential private players for the trenching ground’s remediation.
“As the first step (towards the site’s closure), we have set January 16 as the deadline for submission of the EOI, after which companies will be called for a pre-bid meeting, followed by short listing of those (firms) which meet our qualifying standards for the next round,” Gunjyal said.
{{/usCountry}}“As the first step (towards the site’s closure), we have set January 16 as the deadline for submission of the EOI, after which companies will be called for a pre-bid meeting, followed by short listing of those (firms) which meet our qualifying standards for the next round,” Gunjyal said.
{{/usCountry}}“The entire process (of selecting a private player for carrying out remediation) including calling of bids for tenders and final selection will take over two months,” he said.
The type of technology to be used for the remediation process will be decided later by a technical committee.
“Whatever the process, it will be in compliance with the waste management and environmental rules and global best practices,” Gunjyal said, adding that the civic body plans to set up a city park at the location, once the closure process was over.