A total of 31 multi-national companies on Thursday expressed interest in supplying suitable technology to the Chennai Corporation for its massive solid waste management initiative that includes remediation and scientific closure of the Perungudi and Kodungaiyur dumpyards.
The Corporation Council on Thursday approved private participation in solid waste management of the city. Officials from Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Ltd will help the Chennai Corporation zero in on the right technology.
A few months ago, the Chennai Corporation intensified its search for sustainable world class technology in the wake of the National Green Tribunal setting aside the environmental clearance granted by the Tamil Nadu government to the integrated solid waste management facility at Perungudi.
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The civic body will identify alternative regional landfills and commence work on remediation of the Perungudi and Kodungaiyur dumpyards where garbage is being dumped in an unscientific manner for over three decades.
Apart from reversing environmental damage in the two ecologically fragile areas in the city limits, the civic body will carry out more solid waste management initiatives with the support of multinational companies.
The initiative includes the design of a scalable and modular plant with a future capacity of processing 10,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste per day.
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The scope of work in another initiative covers street cleaning and door-to-door collection of garbage. All the three initiatives will be in the public-private partnership mode.
The civic body now generates over 4,600 tonnes of municipal solid waste on a daily basis and has 10 dumping sites across the 426 sq km area.
As these pieces of land are inadequate for the implementation of the new technology additional land in neighbouring districts of Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur will also be identified for the purpose.
The current methodologies adopted at the dumping sites across the city are proving to be disadvantageous to residents. Sporadic fires in dumpyards which pollute the neighbourhood have worsened in the past few weeks forcing residents of Perungudi and Kodungaiyur to stage protest frequently.
The new projects will also include power generation from waste and the project developer will sell power in accordance with the provisions of the Indian Electricity Act, 2003.
The civic body is planning to take into account factors that contributed to the setting aside of the permission given by the State government for the earlier Perungudi project.