The State government plans to establish one waste-to-energy unit in all the districts to address garbage disposal problem and generate additional revenue for municipalities and corporations under public private partnership (PPP) mode. But more than administration issues, there are many challenges for the government in taking up these projects.
To begin with, land needs to be acquired for disposing garbage generated from each city and town in respective districts and then offer feasible price for the companies to sell power generated from the waste.
It was acknowledged by none other than Municipal Administration Minister P. Narayana during his visit to the city on Wednesday. Setting up waste-to-energy units is best solution for disposing garbage in urban areas and in countries like China and Japan, governments are reaping good profits, he explained.
To emulate the same here, there are a few challenges. Companies need to be given feasible price for selling the power generated from the waste. “They will not show interest in taking up the projects if the government offers Rs.3.50 or Rs.5.50 per unit. They need to be offered more,” said Mr. Narayana.
Another issue is identifying land for disposing garbage. When municipalities dump garbage on the outskirts, residents are approaching courts citing health concerns and invariably, officials have to look for other options. Keeping all these issues, plans are being made to establish one waste to energy unit in each district, he explained.
A meeting would be organised with interested companies shortly to discuss all these issues, especially price for selling power and tenders would be invited for taking up the projects, he added.
Garbage disposal has been a perennial problem for Vijayawada Municipal Corporation. More than 500 metric tonnes of solid waste is generated in the city daily and it is dumped at different areas.
Initially, the Municipal Corporation was dumping garbage at Pathapadu. Following its closure, officials wanted to zero in on Adavinekkalam village, but it did not fructify. Last week, Krishna District Collector Babu.A, Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) Commissioner G. Veerapandian and other senior officials on Sunday visited Pothavaram village in Kadiyam mandal for setting up a garbage dumping yard and waste-to-energy plant at the location.
