Spadework on for new waste plant in Brahmapuram

Global tenders to be floated for waste-to-energy plant planned at Brahmapuram

Corporation workers removing garbage piled up in a street in the city.

The spadework for the waste-to-energy plant at Brahmapuram will be over within a fortnight.

KITCO, the public sector consultant company that has been assigned the task of completing the paper works for the project, will prepare the bid documents for the project within the time-frame. Global tenders will have to be invited for setting up the plant which can process bio-degradable waste as well as plastic, said Thomas Roy, project engineer of the company.

The project will come up on a 5-acre plot owned by the Kochi Corporation at Brahmapuram. Experts have identified waste-to-energy as the suitable process for the plant, which will be set up in Private-Public-Participation (PPP) mode. The company, which wins the bid for the plant, can sell the power generated at the unit to the national power grid or to the Kerala State Electricity Board. The power tariff and other related details will have to be finalised, said Mr. Roy.

Incidentally, the authorities had wasted more than a year discussing the suitable technology for the Kochi plant.

The State government had come forward to set up a new plant at the Brahmapuram site where the Kochi Corporation had installed a plant using the funds from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

It is estimated that the plant would require around 300 tonnes of waste a day for generating power. It would be the responsibility of the local authorities to provide the required raw material, the municipal waste, for the plant. Municipal waste from Kochi Corporation area and neighbouring local bodies will be treated at the plant. Plastic and bio-degradable waste need not be segregated and it can go together into the plant. The presence of plastic in the refuse will help in augmenting power production, he said.

Ash that is generated from the process could be sold as there are many takers including fertiliser manufacturers.

The fly ash generated from the plant could be trapped to avoid any environmental pollution. It would be the responsibility of the company, which wins the bid, to develop some tie-ups with firms for the sale of ash generated from the plant.

Contractual conditions to this effect will be incorporated in the bid document. If everything works well as planned, the plant could be made operational in 15 months, he said.