Kolkata: With the Dhapa dumping ground reaching a saturation point, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation is planning to use the waste to generate electricity. For the purpose, the KMC has identified a five-acre plot in Rajarhat, which it had bought from the HIDCO earlier this year, to set up a waste-to-energy plant in a joint-venture with a private body, Member Mayor-in-Council (MMIC) Solid Waste Management Debobrato Majumdar told PTI. The plot situated near the Bhangor area of Rajarhatwill be given on free lease for 25 years to a private firm which will have to bear the entire cost of setting up the power plant there, he said.
The KMC will provide 600 metric tonnes of garbage daily to the plant for the generation of power. KMC will shortly float a tender globally for the private partner and a consultant has already been appointed to set up conditions of the lease, the tipping fee as well as the royalty to be included in the tender, Majumdar said. “We have already appointed a consultant to set up the clause of the tender. We hope to float the tender by next month,” he stated.
A company with an earlier experience of setting up a waste-to-energy plant would be given preference, he said. “We have not set up any deadline for setting up the plant but hopefully by next year it will be completed,” Majumdar said.
This venture would not only be good earning opportunity for the KMC but it would also help it in managing the huge garbage generated in the city daily, he said. Kolkata produces around 4,700 metric tonnes of garbage daily, out of which 65 per cent is collected from households. The waste is dumped in two places - in 31.50 acres of land in Dhapa and the other one in the 3.22 acre of land in Garden Reach.
