Kozhikode: Waste project to take off

Kozhikode: The municipal corporation is set to launch a ‘power from waste project’ for which it will provide the land at Njeliyanparamba while a company or a consortium of companies can join it by chipping in about Rs 250 crore. Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) is the nodal agency.

Mayor Thottathil Raveendran told DC that the corporation had already floated Expre-ssion of Interest (EOI) for it. Other modalities will be fine-tuned before August 31.  “Many business groups have expressed willingness to take over the project,” he said. “There is no need to segregate the waste and the collection also would be taken care of by the company,” he said. Waste bins would be fixed at every 200 metres.

Health standing committee chairperson K.V. Baburaj told DC that a recent meeting held in the presence of the chief secretary had discussed the project which would be finalised soon.

The scheme which was envisaged in 2017 had failed to take off due to financial bottlenecks as the corporation itself was the investor. As per the project prepared by the corporation health department, out of a total of 300 tonnes of waste generated in the corporation limit, only 60 to 80 tonnes goes to the treatment plant at Njeliyanparamba. Of the remaining, 100 to 120 tonnes is processed at the source or sent for recycling and 100 to 140 tonnes is thrown in open spaces.  Moreover, the non-biodegradable waste that cannot be recycled is also heaped up on the premises of the treatment plant which includes thermocol, sponge, plastic, rexin, synthetic fabric, rubber etc. According to a rough estimate, about 125 tonnes of waste is accumulated every day under the corporation limits.

As per the project, the waste would be processed into energy through gasification targeting to produce 100 megawatt power every day. The earlier project also envisaged to generate an annual revenue of '18 crore by selling power.

However in the changed situation, the private sector would invest the amount for which the modalities are yet to be finalised, corporation authorities said.