The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Contract with Onyx expires today

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 25, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Contract with Onyx expires today

Karthik Subramanian

Government may extend it by six months

CHENNAI: The seven-year contract of the private conservancy operator CES Onyx with the Chennai Corporation for garbage clearance in three city zones — Triplicane (zone 6), Kodambakkam (zone 8) and Adyar (zone 10) — expires on Sunday.

The State Government, however, is expected to extend it by another 6 months.

According to official sources, the Corporation has been in negotiations with Onyx over the past few days. Officials said a government order is expected on Sunday.

The civic agency had made a policy decision to extend privatisation of garbage clearance to Pulianthope (zone 3) and call for fresh global bids for all four zones in the coming months. The civic agency is hoping that the Government would extend the contract with Onyx to ensure that there is no break in garbage clearance in the three zones.

CES Onyx has been credited with modernising garbage clearance in the city, ever since it started work in March 2000. It won a global bid floated by the Corporation. The private operator recruited over 2,000 workers, trained them in modern garbage clearance, provided them with uniform and safety gear and brought about a scientific way of garbage clearance.

It has been clearing close to 1,100 tonnes of mixed waste, including construction debris, on a daily basis.

The Corporation has been paying Onyx charges for clearing garbage and debris from the three zones and transporting it to the Perungudi dumping ground. The charges per tonne increased from Rs.648 in the first year of operation to Rs. 1,212 in its seventh year. It is expected that Onyx will be paid at the current rate over the next six months. Last year, the civic agency spent Rs.30 crore for its services.

Source segregation

Though Onyx's work has come in for praise, solid waste management experts and residents welfare groups have been pressing for source segregation of waste — into organic and inorganic components — and composting of organic waste. The Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 mandates the methods to reduce the amount of waste reaching the dumping grounds.

The civic agency has maintained that the contract with Onyx was signed before the Rules of 2000 were notified. Therefore, source-segregation and composting were not included. Officials clarified that the new global contract will include the clauses.

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