The Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation has chalked out a set of ambitious projects for solid waste management using the Million Plus Cities Challenge Fund provided by the 15th Finance Commission’s for Urban Agglomerations.
The projects include a faecal waste and sludge treatment plant, biomedical waste incineration plant, and bio-fencing in places that have turned waste dumps. The Corporation as well as 35 local bodies surrounding the city, making up an urban agglomeration, will get ₹194 crore over the next five years for improving waste management, sanitation, and ensuring clean drinking water. Out of these funds, ₹54.6 crore are set aside for solid waste management and sanitation, with the Corporation’s share alone being ₹22 crore. “It is a big responsibility for the Corporation, as we have to not only implement our own projects, but also have to monitor the implementation of similar projects in the surrounding local bodies. We have formulated the projects for the next five years. The funds will be allotted after approval of these by the Union government,” Mayor Arya Rajendran told The Hindu. One of the key projects will be a faecal sludge treatment plant attached to the existing sewage treatment plant at Muttathara. Currently, septage is being added to the existing plant due to the lack of a separate plant for the purpose. Similar plants will be set up in Attingal and Neyyattinkara so that the entire district gets coverage. A manure processing plant will also be added at Muttathara for remediation of sediments collected here. The sediments can be used as manure but the rich heavy metal content has to be treated, for which a processing plant is needed. The fortified manure will be packed and tested at an attached lab facility, and sold commercially. Another major project is for the setting up of a biomedical incineration plant, to process medical waste, used sanitary napkins, medicine strips, and syringes. This will be set up under a public private partnership model. A construction demolition waste processing plant will also be set up for the entire district. Sewage treatment plants will be set up in five hospitals. A plant will be set up at the Central Jail too. Around 75 points identified as vulnerable to garbage dumping will be turned around with bio fencing and beautified with vertical gardens. Out of the 417 fixed aerobic bins and 217 portable bins for treatment of biodegradable waste in the city, around 140 are in a depleted condition. Funds will be set aside for carrying out maintenance work in these. Purchase of a mechanised road sweeping machine and desludging trucks are also part of the plan. The existing public toilet facilities will be refurbished and four new Take-a-break centres, including toilet and refreshment facilities, as well as five portable bio toilets will be introduced. As part of projects for rejuvenating rivers and water bodies, dumping of septage from houses along the Karamana river will be prevented by providing soak-pit or floating sewer lines to 3,000 houses. At Least 50 trash booms, a net-like system to trap floating plastic and other waste, will be installed in rivers and streams.
