Companies participating in the tender for supply of mobile incineration units for processing municipal garbage in the city will present a PowerPoint presentation of their products at a meeting to be held at the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) office here on Monday.
To avoid delay
The meeting is organised to expedite the technical bidding process and enable evaluators to directly seek clarifications from the company representatives regarding the technical specifications of their products. The Small Industries Development Corporation (SIDCO) had invited global tenders for procuring two truck-mounted/ trailer type mobile incineration units in February. As many as four companies, including two European firms, were shortlisted for the technical bidding.
According to the officials, the technical bidding process got delayed because of the time-consuming process involved in evaluating the technical and environmental specifications of the incineration units as per the tender criteria. Since clarification through correspondence will cause further delay, project officials decided to hold a meeting with company representatives.
The company representatives will make the presentation before a joint sitting of the technical evaluation committee headed by PCB chairman K. Sajeevan and technical specification committee comprising SIDCO engineers. Members of technical evaluation committee include officials of the Suchitwa Mission, Local Self Government Department, Industries Department and the Stores Purchase Department.
Specifications
As per the technical requirements stated in the tender advertisements, the automatic, weather-proof incinerators should be fully mobile with a residual ash production not exceeding 10 per cent of the weight of waste.
The units with thermostatic combustion control are to have at least 99 per cent combustion efficiency. It also specified that chlorinated plastic shall not be incinerated and that only low-sulphur fuels such as diesel shall be used as fuel for the incinerator.
One of the main points to be discussed at the meeting would be the height of the exhaust valves of the incineration units which should comply with the design standards of exhaust gas emission pipes as stipulated by the PCB.
“We are hoping to complete the technical evaluation process by Monday itself so that the financial bidding can be opened soon. Companies that qualify in the technical evaluation will move on to the final stage of price bidding,” a SIDCO official said.
Custom-made units
An official of the Suchitwa Mission, which is providing technical support for the project, said that even after the completion of the bidding process it might take around a month to get the incineration units as the units would have to be custom-made as per the tender requirements.
The mobile incineration units are expected to provide a respite for the City Corporation that has been struggling to get over a raging waste disposal crisis since the closure of its solid waste treatment plant at Vilappilsala in December 2011.
The plant, which was closed following a mass agitation spearheaded by the Vilappil panchayat and local population, continues to remain a bone of contention between the panchayat and the City Corporation and the two are now engaged in a legal battle over the plant.
