Chandigarh admn open to proposals on technology to be used for upgrade of waste processing plant

The UT administration is open to proposals regarding the technology to be used for the upgrade of the solid waste processing plant in Sector 25, near Dadumajra. A different location may also be considered, if the upgraded plant requires changed land configurations.

Notably, the municipal corporation general House had last year voted for the “waste to energy” technology option to run the plant, through which power can be produced from dry garbage.

UT adviser Dharam Pal after a meeting with Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar, (IIT Ropar) representatives on Thursday regarding the preparation of the request for proposal (RFP) for the project, said, “We are focusing on the end-result, which is minimal dumping of waste at the landfill site after its processed. Also, the plant must meet emission standards. So, we want to keep it open for bidders to propose any technology for the plant, but it should satisfy us on these key and other parameters.” Pal added that the location of the plant can also be changed if there is requirement for additional land.

MC commissioner Anindita Mitra was also present at the meeting, where IIT-Ropar gave a presentation on the RFP and DPR. IIT-Ropar was asked to revise the RFP and include suggestions made by the administration. A fresh report will be submitted within a week. After the report gets the nod of the administration, a tender will be floated to set up the new plant.

The city produces 550 to 600 metric tonnes (MT) of garbage per day, but the dysfunctional solid waste management plant in Sector 25 is currently processing only 20-40 MT. All the unprocessed garbage is being dumped at the Dadumajra landfill site.

MC signed an agreement with a private firm in 2005 to set up the plant, but took over in 2020 citing poor performance and violation of norms. The move to upgrade the current plant came up after a IIT Roorkee report recommended either upgrading the existing plant or setting up of a new plant to meet the city’s solid waste management needs.

The report, at the time of study, stated that the existing plant can at best handle 60 to 65 metric tonne waste per day. Thereafter, the MC appointed IIT Ropar to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) and RFP for plant upgrade.

The MC councillors had also visited several processing plants across the region, including Delhi, to finalise the technology and various firms had also made detailed presentations on different technology options before the councillors.