KOLKATA: Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is in talks with city power utility CESC for a pilot project that will convert garbage into energy. The talks are in the initial stage and are expected to be crystallized in eight to 10 weeks.

Sources said KMC had already identified a site in Garden Reach for handover to CESC in case the project went through. Though mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya refused to spell out further details till the project was finalized, he acknowledged that a pilot waste-to-energy project was on the cards. "We will watch how it goes and then go for a bigger commercial project," Bhattacharjee said at the sidelines of a seminar on waste management organized by the Indian Chamber of Commerce.

CESC managing director Sumantra Banerjee, too, acknowledged the utility was in talks with KMC. "We are exploring opportunities. If the pilot project takes shape, it will have a major corporate social responsibility component too, because waste management has become a huge problem in cities like Kolkata," he said.

Municipal solid waste (MSW) has been growing exponentially in Kolkata with the current quantity pegged at 3,500 tonnes per day against 2,800 tonnes per day some years ago. Though an initiative was taken to dispose part of the garbage by processing it at a modern fertilizer unit in 1999, it has now become defunct as there are no takers for the compost it generates.

The proposal for a CESC pilot project gains added significance given that two other initiatives have been non-starters. A scientific landfill, as opposed to current practice of simply dumping garbage at Dhapa, hasn't taken off. Neither has a Rs 600-crore proposal to set up a 54-MW waste-to-energy plant by US-based firm Astonfield Management taken shape.

At present, there is only one waste-to-energy generation project in the country: a 4 KW plant in Hyderabad. On Thursday, Howrah Municipal Corporation handed over a 14-acre plot at Sarenga, Sankrail to Hyderabad-based

CESC now has to consider the project's financial viability, the technology appropriate for handling the city's low-calorific value waste and the tariff structure. West Bengal Green Development Energy Corporation Ltd (WBGDECL) managing director S P Gon Chowdhury said that though a tariff of Rs 5 per unit had been declared by the state electricity regulatory commission, issues like tipping fee, sorting of the garbage at source and incentives from the civic body, as well as carbon credit, needed to be resolved to attract private investors.

"Civic bodies need to change their mindset if they are serious about tackling the garbage issue. If a private company does take care of a section of it, they should get an incentive. Instead, all that civic bodies are concerned about is grabbing a pie from the carbon benefit that the project will accrue," he said, adding that half the funding should come from civic bodies as the project has a major social component.

At present, the cost of setting up a waste-to-energy plant is around Rs 8-9 crore, double that of a thermal power plant. The Centre provides a subsidy of Rs 1.5 crore per MW but that is not enough to bridge the viability gap.

Apart from the pilot project, KMC and ICC have decided to join hands for a training programme for ragpickers so that they can segregate waste at source. The mayor said ragpickers' service would be of great help in segregating waste, especially plastics, since it is a major environmental hazard. "We will not only give training, but also find means for their livelihood," Bhattacharya said. State environment chief law officer Biswajit Mukherjee said ragpickers were key stakeholders in the project and needed to be given proper incentives.