The State government has decided to call fresh tenders for the construction of the abandoned modern, integrated compost yard at Venkatamangalam near Tambaram. This gives some hope to some of the municipalities that are now overburdened with the task of collecting an increasing volume of garbage.
Senior officials of the Department of Municipal Administration and Water Supply told The Hindu that the decision was made this week. The previous contractor, a Mumbai-based private company, who had received work orders in January 2009, left the project after a few days of work.
The fate of the project, then estimated at Rs. 44 crore, has been hanging in balance. The project for an integrated compost yard on modern scientific lines to tackle the problems of garbage disposal in local bodies in the city suburbs in the south was originally mooted as early as 2000. The project's original sanctioned estimate was Rs. 18 crore, but revised estimates pegged the project cost at Rs. 44 crore.
In June 2008, the Centre gave its nod for the project to be taken up under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and work orders were issued to the contractor – Hydroair Tectonics in January 2009.
The work started in April 2010 and a compound wall was built around the 50-acre site and a few columns were raised. It was proposed to handle nearly 300 tonnes of garbage generated from Tambaram, Pallavaram and Alandur Municipalities, convert kitchen waste into manure and recycle plastic waste in addition to manufacture of residue derived fuel. In 2007, Alandur Municipality decided to pull out of the project.
The Department is considering including Pammal and Anakaputhur Municipalities. The Department has also requested Chennai Corporation to permit wards that originally came under Alandur Municipality to continue to be part of the this project. A final decision is expected soon, officials said.
At present, garbage generated by areas under the Pallavaram Municipality is dumped in Ganapathypuram around the Pallavaram ‘periya eri'; in Tambaram, it is dumped in Kannadapalayam. Alandur's garbage is dumped in Pallikaranai on Velachery Main Road.
