The trial run of the the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) waste- to-energy (WTE) processing plant at Kapuluppada was started here on Saturday. The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) officials have sent about 500 tonnes of waste for processing.
GVMC Commissioner G. Srijana flagged off the closed compact vehicle in which the solid waste was sent to the plant. Later, she enquired about functioning of various machinery and checked the plant with the officials. She also planted saplings on the premises.
On February 2016, the GVMC had entered into an agreement with the JIFT (Jindal Infrastructure Urban Infrastructure Limited) for the project. In December 2018, the GVMC had given 17.08 acres of land at Kapuluppada on lease for a period of 25 years. As per the agreement, the GVMC will supply 900 to 1,000 tonnes of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) gathered from various households to the facility on a daily basis and also bear the transportation cost. The company would generate 15 MW of power from the solid waste. Discom will procure the power from the plant.
The WTE plant had already missed a couple of deadlines in starting its operations. The recent deadline was March 2021 and it was delayed due to the second COVID-19 wave. Lockdown, unavailability of labourers and a few other issues delayed civil works at the plant.
GVMC Superintending Engineer Ganesh Kumar and the staff from the JIFT were present.
