The Centre for Environment and Development (CED), which is managing the solid waste treatment plant of the Kochi Corporation at Brahmapuram, will be asked to run the plant for some more time.
The Corporation Council has decided to suggest to the agency to run the plant for 45 more days, by which time it may be able to identify another agency for the business. The CED had earlier written to the Kochi Corporation officials seeking to relieve it of running the plant. The agency, which had carried out some repair works, had also suggested that it was not interested in running the plant for long. It was the LDF-led regime that brought in the agency to run the plant as it had developed serious technical snags.
Since the time the CED made its reluctance known, the Kochi Corporation had been scouting for agencies to run the plant. The civic authority was planning to float tenders for selecting the agency and the CED would be asked to stay till the process was over, said T.K. Ashraf, chairman, Health standing committee.
“The paper works for the tendering will be completed shortly and the agency selected accordingly,” he said.
Meanwhile, the next meeting of the committee would finalise the formalities for floating an Expression of Interest (EoI) for setting up a new waste treatment plant at Brahmapuram, he said.
The civic body had earlier decided to set up a new plant at the site, capable of processing solid waste generated by the city and the neighbouring civic bodies. The management of the waste had been a perennial problem for municipalities such as Kalamassery and Thrikkakara and the dumping of waste in open spaces had been widely criticised.
