Switzerland’s Ambassador to India and Bhutan Andreas Baum laid the foundation stone for the biomethanation plant at the R.S. Puram uzhavar santhai under the CAPAcities project on Thursday.
After laying the foundation, Dr. Baum told reporters that Switzerland is celebrating 70 years of friendship with India and working on several projects.
“Coimbatore is one among the four cities selected under the project focussing on solid waste management system and mitigation of carbon emission by developing a solid waste management strategy. Under this project, we have initiated segregation of solid waste management in wards 22 and 24. The other three cities where the project is under way are Udaipur, Rajkot and Siliguri.”
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It has been proposed to establish 1.5 mw capacity biomethanation plant by 2023 with the estimated accumulated segregated waste of nearly 200 tonnes from the city, he said. The project will be implemented at an estimated cost of Rs. 35 lakh with the bio-degradable organic waste generated from the R.S. Puram uzhavar santhai. The power generated from the plant would be used for lighting and other purposes at the santhai.
Dr. Baum, who went around the market, said that “it is a very interesting system for the farmers to bring their produce and sell it at a remunerative price without the intervention of intermediaries.”
Earlier, he unveiled a display board of Air Quality Monitoring System at the corporation at an estimated cost of Rs. 7 lakh.
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Under Sunya Project of the Swachh Bharat Mission, Dr. Baum handed over secondary storage bins for organic waste at wards 22 and 24 and interacted with the volunteers of NGOs involved in segregation of waste at source. Corporation Commissioner K. Vijayakarthikeyan, and head of Swiss Cooperation Office and Counsellor Marylaure Crettaz were present.