KOCHI: The long wait for the waste-to-energy plant at Brahmapuram is going to end soon as the environmental clearance for the project is expected by September end.
Environmental clearance for the plant is included in the agenda of State Level Environment Impact Assessment Committee (SLEIAC) scheduled for September 17 (Tuesday). A meeting of the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority is slated for September 19 which is expected to approve the recommendation of SLEIAC on issuing EC for Brahmapuram.
“The SLEIAC has included this agenda several times in their earlier meetings and based on their review asked us to make slight modifications. The committee members also visited the project site recently. Now, all the changes prescribed by SLEIAC have been made and we expect the committee will recommend for EC to Environment Impact Assessment Authority. If the Authority meeting on September 19 takes a final decision, the EC will be issued in couple of days. We expect the clearance by September 26,” said spokesperson of GJ Eco Power PVT Limited, the private firm setting up the plant.
After the public hearing conducted on June 10, GJ Eco Power PVT Limited was waiting for the EC. The public hearing was held at district collectorate on June 10 in which stakeholders including neighbouring panchayat, local residents, NGOs and green activists raised serious apprehensions over the feasibility and environmental impacts of the plant. Representatives of the private firm assured that modern technology is being used for the plant which will be odour-free with very less volume of smoke and no pollution.
Though the Kochi Corporation has handed over 28 acres of land for setting up the plant, the firm could not start construction without environmental clearance.
The plant, to be set up at Rs 375 crore with a capacity of treating 300 tonnes of solid waste per day, can be realised in 18 months once the construction begins. The plant can generate 5 to 6 MW of electricity per day.
On June 17 this year, the Kerala State Electricity Board signed agreement with GJ Eco Power PVT Limited to purchase power from the plant. It is for the first time that the KSEB signed a pact with any agency to purchase power from solid waste treatment plant.
