Indian Express 24.05.2010
Govandi site among 10 shortlisted for e-waste processing
Swapnil Rawal Tags : Metropolitan Region Development Posted: Mon May 24 2010, 04:17 hrs
Mumbai: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority has shortlisted 10 sites, including one near Govandi in the city, to set up an electronic waste processing unit. The plant, to be set up on public-private partnership, will have a comprehensive process to collect, transport and recover precious metals from e-waste and its safe treatment.MR Shah, principal advisor, solid waste management (SWM) cell, MMRDA, said the site would be finalised in a fortnight. “Three of these sites are in Ambernath, three in Mahape, two each in Vasai, Bhiwandi and one in Govandi. As most of them are government land and some belong to the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation, acquiring it will be easy.”
The MMRDA, which was looking for four-five acres, is now looking for 10 acres. “Some of these sites are over 10 acres, but we will carve out 10 acres from it. We’ve increased the size in view of future expansion and have also planned a green belt around the unit with thick vegetation,” the former SWM chief engineer of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said.
The MMRDA is also in the process of floating tenders. The Maharashtra Urban Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (MUIDCL) has been roped in for managing the bid process along with PPP expert Ajay Saxena. They are likely to invite tenders in a couple of months. Shah said the project, barring the land component, was estimated to cost Rs 80 crore.
The MMRDA is expecting 60 per cent e-waste from the corporate sector and institutions, and the rest from the domestic sector. The operator will collect e-waste while the treatment will be carried out in three stages — separation, segregation and recovery of precious metals. Officials said civic bodies could also be roped in to collect waste from the domestic sector.
A study by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board has highlighted an alarming projection of e-waste generation in the region, estimated at over 50,000 tonnes of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) by 2015. The figure was 20,000 tonnes in 2007. The International Resources Group (IRG) System South Asia Pvt Ltd, which did a feasibility study, had found an e-waste processing plant “highly feasible” in the area.
