Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is aiming to set up an eco-town at Dahej on the lines of Kitakyushu Eco Town. The project is expected to be a part of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), the first phase of which will come up in Gujarat. The investment for the project could to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore, said a government official familiar with the development.
The project titled 'Gujarat Re-cycle and Waste Management Zone' will envisage setting up eco-towns at various places in Gujarat including Dahej and Panoli. Dahej which falls in the Dahej Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) will be the main hub.
"A parcel of land spread in about 400-500 odd acres has been identified at Dahej of which 300 acres has already been acquired," sources close to the development told Business Standard.
About 10 projects on DMIC - India's mega infrastructure project in association with Japan - will be given ‘early bird project’ status. Japan is pitching hard to get early bird project status for the upcoming zone, sources said.
Several individual units for paper-recycling, bio-degradable plastic, styrene foam and a research unit that would come up at Dahej. A comprehensive environmental industrial complex on lines of Kitakyushu will be set up to handle and distribute recycles generated from a broad area. It could act a hub for material cycle for individual industries and thus create a recycling chain among them, sources said.
Kitakyushu Eco-Town, Japan's first Eco-Town project established in 1997, has been growing as a recycling-oriented industrial park on about 17 hectares in the city's Hibikinada area.
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The eco-towns will be run on 3R policy of reduce, reuse and recycle.
JICA has roped in Gujarat Environment Protection & Infrastructure Ltd (GEPIL), a private sector company promoted by Luthra Group for implementing the project. Japan Development Institute (JDI) had earlier carried out the feasibility study for the project. Instead of landfilling, JICA will focus on informal sectors and recycle waste dumped on open land.
"A lot of Japanese and Indian companies who have lined up their investments on DMIC would be roped in to support the project," sources said.
A Japanese delegation including officials of JICA had participated in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit-2009 wherein Japan was a partner country.
Every one per cent increase in industrialisation adds up half a percentage of waste generation and about one to three per cent of hazardous waste generation. Gujarat generates over 30 lakh tonnes non-hazardous industry waste, 14 lakh tonnes of hazardous incinerable waste, 12 lakh tonnes of hazardous landfill waste: 12 lakh tons per annum and six lakh tonnes of recyclables.