The Department of Urban Affairs has rejected the
financial bid offered by three agencies that came forward to set up the
waste-to-energy-based units at the proposed solid waste treatment plant
at Brahmapuram.

The bid was rejected after an expert
committee found the terms and conditions “unacceptable and unrealistic”.
The government will now adopt the ‘Swiss challenge approach,’ a
competitive bidding process, for implementing the facility. No bidder
will have a predefined advantage in this process. It also provides
companies with considerable incentives to propose new ideas.

The
plant will be implemented under a DBFOT (design, build, finance,
operate and transfer) pattern in the public-private participatory mode.
As per the original project proposal, the new plant will be capable of
processing 500 tonnes of waste daily.

It is learnt
that the agencies came up with an unscientific estimate of the
electricity generation from the solid waste processed at the plant.

The
companies gave a projection that only 14 units of power could be
generated from one tonne of solid waste. Experts of the Kerala Suchitwa
Mission, who vetted the bid, pointed out that at least 300 to 400 units
of power could be generated from one tonne of solid waste.

As
per the original project proposal, the operation of the plant will be
bound under an agreement by which the energy generated will be added to
the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) pool. The board will buy the
power generated at the plant. It was also proposed that the government
will provide the difference, if the cost of power was higher than the
rate at which KSEB purchases from other stations.

The
government will provide 10 acres near the now defunct plant of the
Kochi Corporation at Brahmapuram for the new project. The government
will have no financial obligation while the selected entity can decide
on the quantum of investment.

The proposal had stated
that the project will be an integrated solid waste management plant
with minimum land fill, producing electrical energy output capacity to
cater to treatment of 500 tonnes of municipal solid waste per day. Other
development opportunities proposed includes land development, solid
waste management, electrical energy and manure.

The
new Brahmapuram plant was among the three regional solid waste treatment
plants proposed to be built shortly using a feasible technology model.
The other two plants were supposed to come up at Thiruvananthapuram and
Kozhikode.