The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will float a tender in next two weeks to set up a solid waste processing plant near Bhuasuni at a cost of Rs 46 crore.
“The company selected through the tender will set up the project in 18 months. It will make all the investment while we will give it a tipping fee calculated on the basis of per tonne of waste it lifts from the city,” said Vishal Dev, commissioner, BMC on the sidelines of a waste management conclave organized by Indian Chamber of Commerce here.
He said, in cities like Hyderabad and other municipalities where such process exists, the tipping fee usually varied between Rs 1,400 and Rs 1,500 rupees per tonne.
Agencies like Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (Idco) and credit rating agency CRISIL will be consulted to evaluate and assess the business model and tipping fees, he added. “I am sure the amount of tipping fee will be lower than what we pay for transportation of solid waste from our wards,” Dev said.
About 62 acres of land was allotted by the state government at Bhuasuni under Bhubaneswar tehsil for a Regional Solid Waste Treatment Plant and for waste-to-energy project in February 2008. But experts say, the waste-to-energy project is unviable as the quality of waste generated in India has less caloric value than other countries. Still, the solid waste can be used to make fuels and the processing company can earn profit by selling the end products, the BMC commissioner said.
The proposed waste management project will not be an integrated one but will have multiple contractors.
More From This Section
“We initially wanted it to be an integrated one as it is more convenient to work with one operator who takes care of entire operation including collection of waste, transportation and processing. However, if the sole contractor wants to maximize profit, it may seek to increase the amount of waste to earn more tipping fee by collecting waste from outside the city, which is disastrous. But by keeping multiple contractors, this can be avoided. Besides, the operation is unlikely to be affected in a major way if one of the operators breaks the contract or stops work,” Dev said.
Cuttak and Bhubaneswar together generate nearly 750 tonne of solid waste per day.