The Kochi Corporation authorities will soon convey their concern  over the delay in the construction of new Solid Waste Treatment Plant at Brahmapuram to the state government.

Though the government had entrusted the Kerala Suchitwa Mission the task of implementing the project, it is yet to take-off. The delay has resulted in the Corporation drawing flak from the Opposition in the recently held  post-budget sessions.

In the wake of the recent fire breakout and the delay in project implementation, the Corporation authorities are now looking into the possibilities of implementing the project on their own with the support of the state government.

“We have discussed the possibilities of floating an Express of Interest  (EoI) for the construction of the plant. If the state is willing, we can carry forward the project,” said Kochi corporation Health Standing committee chairman T K Ashraf.

Earlier, the Suchitwa Mission had floated the tenders for the construction of the plant. But the bids submitted by the three agencies (L1, L2 and L3) were rejected by an expert committee citing that the proposals were unrealistic. As per the actual plan, the proposed plant, which will be set up at Brahmapuram at a higher plain adjacent to the existing plant, will have a capacity to treat 300 tonnes of solid waste materials per day. The plant will be constructed totally in public-private participation (PPP) mode on a  BoT basis (build-operate-transfer).

“But the delay in finalising the bids have created apprehensions among the Councillors. The state government had earlier announced that a commercial venture will also be launched at the Brahmapuram area along with the new Plant. This will help in winning the confidence of local bodies  and hope they will support our plan to set up a new plant,” Ashraf added.

He said the plan for setting up a plant by their own will only materialise if the civic body get the support from state.

“We will convey our apprehensions to the officials concerned and are expecting a favourable decision in this regard,” he added.