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Spadework on for new waste plant

Thursday, 30 January 2014 04:12 administrator
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The Hindu             30.01.2014

Spadework on for new waste plant

The spadework for the waste-to-energy plant at Brahmapuram will be over within a fortnight.

KITCO, the public sector consultant company that has been assigned the task of completing the paper works for the project, will prepare the bid documents for the project within the time-frame. Global tenders will have to be invited for setting up the plant which can process bio-degradable waste as well as plastic, said Thomas Roy, project engineer of the company.

The project will come up on a 5-acre plot owned by the Kochi Corporation at Brahmapuram. Experts have identified waste-to-energy as the suitable process for the plant, which will be set up in Private-Public-Participation (PPP) mode. The company, which wins the bid for the plant, can sell the power generated at the unit to the national power grid or to the Kerala State Electricity Board. The power tariff and other related details will have to be finalised, said Mr. Roy.

Incidentally, the authorities had wasted more than a year discussing the suitable technology for the Kochi plant.

The State government had come forward to set up a new plant at the Brahmapuram site where the Kochi Corporation had installed a plant using the funds from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

It is estimated that the plant would require around 300 tonnes of waste a day for generating power. It would be the responsibility of the local authorities to provide the required raw material, the municipal waste, for the plant. Municipal waste from Kochi Corporation area and neighbouring local bodies will be treated at the plant. Plastic and bio-degradable waste need not be segregated and it can go together into the plant. The presence of plastic in the refuse will help in augmenting power production, he said.

Ash that is generated from the process could be sold as there are many takers including fertiliser manufacturers.

The fly ash generated from the plant could be trapped to avoid any environmental pollution. It would be the responsibility of the company, which wins the bid, to develop some tie-ups with firms for the sale of ash generated from the plant.

Contractual conditions to this effect will be incorporated in the bid document. If everything works well as planned, the plant could be made operational in 15 months, he said.

 

LMC invites suggestions for development from residents

Wednesday, 29 January 2014 11:55 administrator
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The Times of India          29.01.2014 

LMC invites suggestions for development from residents

LUCKNOW: Sidelining the core theme of house meeting held to approve the revised budget of 2013-14, the corporators ensured that every single minute of Lucknow Municipal Corporation's meeting on Tuesday was spent on discussing civic problems and resolving differences between nominated and elected members.

The only major decision taken was in the interest of residents-that various resident welfare associations (RWAs) and media can submit suggestions on specific problems of their areas to additional municipal commissioner Vishal Bharadwaj's office before February 3. The suggestion should be limited to a few lines and dropped inside the box in front of his office.

Mayor Dinesh Sharma said "we will try to accommodate maximum suggestions in our budget for 2014-15 which would be announced soon. People need to give practical and specific suggestions on problems that need urgent fund allocations like installing tube-wells, street lights in certain areas, buying jetting machine for sewer cleanliness, etc." LMC's executive body meeting on 2014-15 budget provisions would be held before February 10.

The session began with nominated corporators embroiling with elected members for encroaching up on their work areas and misusing power to overshadow them. A nominated corporator from Rajajipuram, Shoaib Ahmad, who had warned of self-immolation some days back, alleged that certain elected corporators had cheated him by getting approval for the same project he had proposed earlier. He complained that nominated corporators are not being treated in a fair manner.

There has always been a dispute over rights of nominated corporators and their entitlement to development funds. While they ask for funds equal to those for elected members, the latter have been opposing it as they fear nominated members, who don't represent any ward, have liberty to work anywhere which might hamper their work. Mayor assured that decision on scope of work area of nominated members would be decided soon.

As important as presenting the balance sheet is during the budget session, LMC has been managing to conclude most of such sessions without balance sheets. This has raised doubts of many corporators over transparency in developmental work. The issue was brought forth in the meeting too but was evaded with "LMC hasn't appointed any CA. Will appoint one this year."

While the session was meant to revolve around budgetary provision, corporators dwelt on drawing officials' attention towards cleanliness irregularities, failure of waste disposal system, cleaning of sewer-lines, etc. When Yawar Hussain Reshu from JC Bose ward enquired how Jal Sansthan ensures all sewer lines are cleaned regularly and complained that sewage has been overflowing in Ruchi Khand of Shardanagar for past many days, GM of Jal Sansthan said that apart from 331 regular workers, they also hire contractual workers.

Jal Sansthan said they also outsource sewer pipelines to contractors for cleaning purpose at the rate of Rs 1.72 per meter pipe. Dissatisfied with the answer, corporators rebuked the agency for poor cleanliness of sewer lines. They questioned the efficiency of private partner of LMC, Jyoti Envirotech, responsible for city's solid waste management plant and collecting door-to door waste from all wards.

Corporators accused the company of being slow and not covering all wards even after so many years. They claimed the company was throwing waste at dumping sites of LMC while it should be treating it at the plant. "Why are they collecting user charges if they are dumping it at the same places," asked corporators. Municipal commissioner R K Singh assured that the plant would begin working by March and that officials would regularly monitor the plant's functioning once it begins.

The meeting also approved of buying jetting machines for cleaning of sewer lines in zones 5 and 6. The meeting came to an abrupt end in the afternoon when corporators boycotted budget announcement. The supplementary budget was passed amid mixed reactions and noise even as corporators gathered around mayor and municipal commissioner to explain their local grievances.

Monitoring the menials:

While the house was busy hearing budget and other civic problems, the sanitary workers staged protest in front of LMC office blaming authorities for making them work in tough conditions. Responding to complaints of poor attendance of sanitary workers in different wards, municipal commissioner had formed 40 teams to carry out sudden inspection across city to monitor workers' attendance twice a day. Workers opposed the move claiming they cannot keep working the entire day. Commissioner said LMC would ask locals about their merit and attendance and take action only after that. "We need good work, If a worker completes work regularly and people are satisfied with his job, we would not go by his attendance records", he assured.

 

Panvel Municipal Council's Rs 188 crore proposal for road laying works

Wednesday, 29 January 2014 11:50 administrator
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The Times of India          29.01.2014

Panvel Municipal Council's Rs 188 crore proposal for road laying works

PANVEL: The old Panvel township, with its dusty and broken roads, poses a nightmare for over one lakh residents. However, the local civic body hopes to solve the daily menace by submitting a proposal of Rs 188 crore to the state government with funds made available to it under the 'Nagarutthan scheme' that will include laying of roads and other amenities.

Chief officer of Panvel Municipal Council (PMC), Sudhakar Jagtap told TOI that the general body has passed the detailed project report (DPR) and it has been forwarded to the urban development department of the state government. The funds made available are under 50:50 cost sharing basis and the civic body is hopeful of at least half the project amount being sanctioned by the state government.

The DPR includes roads, parking, street furniture and the pavements. The civic body, as of now, has decided to take up the laying of roads on a priority basis"We are hopeful that at least the proposal of cemented stretch of roads will get the nod," said a civic official. In case the proposal for bitumen roads is not sanctioned, the Panvel civic body has decided to forward the same to the central government under urban infrastructure development scheme for small and medium towns (UIDSSMT). The scheme is equivalent of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme for small and medium towns as in the case of Panvel.

Panvel roadmap

Rs 188 crore: Proposed cost of the roads

Rs 90 crore (concrete roads); Rs 98 crore (bitumen roads)

Concrete roads: 14 km - length; 12 m or more - width

Bitumen roads: 35 km - length; 12 m or less - width

 
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