The Times of India 27.08.2012
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation keen to keep contractors in check, plans waste-to-power unit
MUMBAI: Unhappy with contractors holding it to ransom, the BMC now wants to reduce its dependence on them.
Plans are afoot to build a waste-to-energy (WTE) plant so that the
civic body can generate electricity from garbage and reduce the load on
dumping grounds, which are filled to capacity.
Civic officials
have already visited the WTE units in Delhi and Pune and an integrated
plan will be finalized by the month-end.
Rahul Shewale, chief of the BMC's standing committee, who was part of the team that visited the units said, "This system looks impressive and will help us cut contractors to size."
He added, "New York has such a system in place. But the moisture
content in garbage is high in Indian cities, which may pose a problem.
Few companies have given us the assurance that the waste-to-energy plant
can be set up in the next 15 months."
According to the plan,
the BMC will set up 'transfer stations' in seven zones. Smaller vehicles
will be deployed in each zone to make more rounds in wards under their
jurisdiction. Garbage will then be transported to the transfer station,
segregation will take place. Bigger vehicles with larger capacity will
carry the garbage from the transfer station to either the dumping ground
or the WTE plant.
"This is a good idea since it will help us
to improve the solid waste management system. We have three transfer
stations at Kurla, Versova and Mahalaxmi. For this plan, we are looking
at more sites," additional municipal commissioner Mohan Adtani. The main
aim of the new system is to make use of the growing garbage collected
each day to generate power. "We will be able to produce electricity
which will help in generating revenue for the civic body," said a senior
civic official. A WTE plant uses the heat from combustion of waste to
generate steam in boilers. In turn, the steam drives turbines linked to
generators to produce power.
"There is an urgent need to look
for alternative plans to plug the leaks in the solid waste management
system," an official said.
