The State government has entrusted the consortium of Zonta Infratech Pvt. Ltd with the implementation of the waste-to-energy (WTE) plant project at Brahmapuram.
It has given approval for a tipping fee of ₹3,550 per tonne offered by the firm for the development of the integrated solid waste management project, with a waste-to-energy plant of 300 tonnes per day capacity to be set up on public-private partnership mode on 20 acres on the land owned by the Kochi Corporation. Tipping (gate) fee is the charge levied upon a given quantity of waste received at a waste processing facility.
An order approving the firm stated that the consortium had quoted a tipping fee of ₹3,672 per tonne. Officials of the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, which had invited the tenders for the project, held discussions with the company representatives to reduce the fee. After two rounds of negotiation, the bidder revised the fee to ₹3,550 per tonne, subject to the condition that a confirmation on per capita based viability gap fund of ₹102.09 crore can be made available for the project as per Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) guidelines.
The WTE plant will have production capacity of 5 MW for the Ernakulam cluster of local bodies. The cluster comprises the Kochi Corporation and municipalities including Thrikkakara, Thripunithura, Kalamassery, Eloor, Maradu, Aluva, Perumbavoor, Angamaly, North Paravur, Muvattupuzha, Kothamangalam, Piravom, and Koothattukulam.
The firm to be chosen for the execution of the project on 20 acres at Brahmapuram will have powers to mortgage leasehold rights over the said area for raising funds for the initiative. The government had asked the Kochi Corporation Secretary to hand over the land to the KSIDC on lease basis. It will sub-lease the land to the firm for 27 years, with permission to mortgage leasehold rights for raising funds only for the project. The plant will be set up on design, build, finance, operate and transfer ((DBFOT) basis.
