The Hindu 26.07.2012
Conservancy operations to go private in all zones
The Chennai Corporation Council on Wednesday approved
the proposal for gradual privatisation of conservancy operations in all
zones of the city.
Conservancy operations in zones
such as Teynampet, Kodambakkam, Adyar and parts of Ambattur have already
been privatised. As part of the efforts of the Chennai Corporation to
shortlist suitable technology for remediation and scientific closure of
the Perungudi and Kodungaiyur dump yards, the civic body also sought
privatisation of conservancy operations in all the 15 zones. The action
was initiated a few months ago 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.
Apart from the initiative of reversing the
environmental damage in Perungudi and Kodungaiyur, the civic body had
invited expression of interest for two more solid waste management
initiatives from multinational companies. This included the design of a
scalable and modular plant with a future capacity of processing 10,000
tonnes of municipal solid waste per day.
The scope of
work in privatisation of conservancy operations covers street cleaning
and door-to-door collection of garbage. All the three initiatives were
proposed to be in the public-private partnership mode.
The
pieces of lands identified in Kuthambakkam, Malaiapattu and Minjur are
likely to be used for the solid waste management initiatives. 31
companies had initially expressed interest to participate in three
tenders floated by the Chennai Corporation in March and 18 were
shortlisted. The private conservancy operators in charge of other zones
will be identified after a few weeks.