Mumbai: Waste-to-energy project gets Rs 225 crore budget allocation

The official said they were planning to issue the work order by May and would also take up the work of clearing 12.19 hectares of land at the dumping ground to make way for the plant

Despite the tender for the proposed waste-to-energy plant at Deonar being floated in 2016, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is yet to find any takers for it. Now, the Solid Waste Management (SWM) department plans to increase the budgetary allocation for the plant to R225 crore. After floating the tender twice and giving three extensions, the civic body has given yet another month's extension, which will end on January 29.

Civic officials have attributed the lack of response to a number of reasons, of which the most important one is the large quantity of waste (3,000 tonnes) to be processed daily. Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta said initially there was no response from the bidders as they were not confident of the existing technology. "The technology required to handle such a high quantity of waste is not available. Hence, we revised the tender document, which now requires the company to process 600 tonnes of garbage daily, which will eventually be done in five phases to reach the target."

The other problem, Mehta said was quality of seasonal garbage. He said concerns were raised around the garbage generated during monsoon, as it is wet and difficult to incinerate. Officials from the SWM department said after the changes, five to six foreign companies have shown interest. "We changed the rules to allow joint ventures. Bidders have come forward and requested a month's extension to survey the dumping ground," said a senior SWM department official. The official said they were planning to issue the work order by May and would also take up the work of clearing 12.19 hectares of land at the dumping ground to make way for the plant.

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