Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste processing unit, as announced by the GHMC, may come up at only one location out of four identified ones.
Work is on only at Jeedimetla for establishment of the plant by Ramky Enviro Engineers, which has won the bid for the same.
Concessionaire agreement signed between the GHMC and the agency too pertains to only one plant, which is to come up on 17 acres of site at Jeedimetla. The plant has the capacity to process 300 metric tonnes of waste per day, while the city is estimated to generate 500 to 750 MT of waste every day.
“Nine months time has been given to them to establish the plant, which will end in November,” says an official from the C&D waste wing of the civic body.
The C&D waste collected from across the city is being dumped at Jeedimetla at present. One more site has been identified at Fathullahguda in Nagole, though no agreement has been signed so far for the establishment of a plant there. Lack of approach road is being cited as a hindrance for signing an agreement with regard to Fathullahguda plant.
Though there is one road now, it meanders through residential colonies, and continuous stream of C&D waste trucks on the road could cause inconvenience to citizens, says the official.
Permission from GSI
A new approach road may be laid only through the premises of Geological Survey of India (GSI), for which permission needs to be obtained from the organisation. In all, seven acres may be needed for laying the road, and the GHMC needs to prepare a Road Development Plan to write to GSI seeking its permission.
As of now, the waste is being taken to the 30-acre site on the existing road in the cover of the night.
The plants planned at two other locations at Kotwalguda and Mallapur, may never see the light of the day.
At Kotwalguda, the GHMC officials conducted a joint inspection along with Revenue officials and identified a site some time ago. However, it was later found that the land belonged to the Tourism Department, and not to the Revenue.
Alternative sites
“We are in search of alternative sites in the same location now. We cannot shift from Kotwalguda as all other areas in the South Zone come under the catchment area of the twin reservoirs of Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar,” says the official.
At Mallapur, the site identified was too small to set up the plant, and there was stiff resistance from local residents against the unit, he confides.
