The Department of Local Self-Government has earmarked around ₹12 crore to carry out biomining at the dumping yard of the Kalamassery municipality at north Kalamassery under the Kerala Solid Waste Management Project (KSWMP).
The civic body is among the 12 municipalities shortlisted in the first phase of the project. Nearly 68,000 metric tonnes of solid waste have been lying at the nearly two-acre dumping site of the municipality for long.
“A drone survey will be held to ascertain the actual quantity of waste at the site. The municipality will also hold a public hearing before placing the proposal at the council for final approval. The ₹12-crore allocation is for a period of five years,” said municipal chairman Seema Kannan.
The KSWMP is partly funded by the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Besides Kalamassery, the municipalities covered in the first phase of the project include Kottarakkara, Kayamkulam, Koothattukulam, Kothamangalam, Muvattupuzha, Paravur, Vadakara, Kalpetta, Iritti, Koothuparambu, and Kasaragod.
The municipal authorities have prepared an estimate of ₹11.9 crore to implement biomining at the yard. The refuse derived fuel after biomining of legacy waste is expected to be transported to cement factories for use as an alternative fuel to coal.
The unscientific handling of solid waste at the site had come under the scanner of the National Green Tribunal and the State Level Monitoring Committee (SLMC) on Solid Waste Management. The Kerala State Pollution Control Board had assessed an environment compensation of ₹2.7 crore for the municipality for its failure to comply with the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. The SLMC had pulled up the civic body for repeated fires at the dumping site earlier.
