Waste-to-Energy (WtE) plants championed by the city administration as a panacea for all ills plaguing compost-based waste processing have again proved to be non-starters.
City Minister K.J. George had announced two plants at Mavallipura and Kannahalli, each with a capacity of 500 tonnes per day, to ease the burden on compost-based waste processing units. The tenders were called in February, have failed to attract bidders. In all likelihood, these plants will meet the same fate as the four that had been planned in the past, but failed to take off.
Four WtE plants — the oldest in Bellahalli was approved in 2009 — have continued to remain on paper. All of them faced protests from villagers in the neighbourhood. Of these, the one to be set up by Essel at Giddenahalli in Yelahanka and another in Bellahalli by a Netherlands-based firm were also embroiled in disputes over land ownership.
Sarfaraz Khan, Joint Commissioner, Solid Waste Management, BBMP said that WtE plants are the need of the hour, as multiple compost-based plants are facing opposition for neighbouring villages. “To get a WtE plant at the earliest, we have decided to give 10 acres in Mavallipura to Essel,” he said.
Essel had signed an MoU with the civic body in August 2015 to set up the 500 TPD WtE plant in Giddenahalli, but the project failed to take off. Mavallipura will be an alternate site for the firm.
Mr. Khan added that they will reissue the tender for the 500 TPD WtE plant at Kannahalli and hold pre-bid meetings with interested firms to ensure participation.
V. Ravichandar, member, BBMP Restructuring Committee, said that the WtE project was like chasing a mirage, as not a single viable plant for municipal waste has come up in the country yet. “We need to first get a plant up and running before we project WtE as a solution for the city's waste. Multiple MoUs that the BBMP has entered into have the potential to handle over 3,500 TPD of waste, almost what the city generates. But while WtE plants fail to take off, this potential has prevented us from looking at alternatives,” he argued.
Meanwhile, the civic body has called tenders for retro-fitting all the six composting plants in the city, with WtE plants of 50 – 100 TPD capacity each, to minimise the role of composting. The tenders will close within a week.
WtE plants that have been non-starters
* Giddenahalli project is being shifted to Mavallipura
