The Suchitwa Mission will assist the Kochi Corporation in scientifically capping waste at the Brahmapuram solid waste treatment plant. The plant site is estimated to have around 200 tonnes of non-biodegradable waste.
A team of officials from the mission would visit the plant soon, said George Chakkachery, executive director of the mission.
The mission would meet the expenses of capping the waste. The corporation had submitted a request seeking support for the project. The proposal was being processed by the mission, he said.
Two sites which could contain the non-degradable waste have been proposed for capping, said T.K. Ashraf, chairman of the Health Standing Committee of the corporation.
Earlier because of technical snags at the plant, the corporation authorities had to cap the waste. Later, a considerable amount of waste was cleared.
New plant
The State government has received technical and financial bids from 11 firms which were shortlisted for setting up a new plant at Brahmapuram. The deadline for submitting the bids is November 19.
All agencies that have evinced interest in the project are consortiums of companies with foreign partners. The project also involves over Rs. 200 crore, government officials said.
The groundwork for the projects is being completed with the target of making the plant operational by December 2013. The applications would be processed in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Central government, Dr. Chakkachery said.
A pre-bid meeting would be held in Thiruvananthapuram this month to clarify doubts of potential bidders regarding the project.
The new plant would have multi-mode processing capabilities for handling different types of waste. Multiple options would have to be integrated in the new plant. The option of compost plant was ruled out for Kochi earlier, he said.
Vehicle-mounted plant
The vehicle-mounted garbage processing plant procured by the State government will reach the State capital this week. The vehicle, which is the first of its kind in the country, will be operating in Thiruvananthapuram on an experimental basis.
The fuel efficiency and the capability of the machine-mounted processor will be evaluated and if found satisfactory, more vehicles will be ordered. The vehicle costs Rs. 2.2 crore.
A decision on the deployment of the vehicle to other cities will be taken only after evaluating its performance. Funds would not be a constraint for procuring one more vehicle as it has been earmarked in the budget, he said.
