Chandigarh MC goes slow on new waste plant, yet to hire agency

Sandeep Rana

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Chandigarh, November 14

Nearly six months after the Municipal Corporation House approved the proposal to set up a new waste processing plant at Dadu Majra, the civic body is still stuck with the ongoing request for proposal (RFP) process. It has failed to hire any agency for the job even as concerns continue to be raised over fresh garbage disposal.

The RFP, which was floated on June 9 for hiring an agency, has faced repeated delays. The last date to send entries has once again been extended from November to December, apparently due a lack of interest from prospective agencies due to the terms and conditions of the project.

After receiving the bids from companies in the RFP, the technical evaluation process will start. And lastly, the lowest financial bidder among the qualified agencies has to be awarded the work.

However, Mayor Anup Gupta said, “We had made some changes in the terms and had put up a corrigendum which took some time. Now, a final corrigendum, after taking into account the objections raised by the agencies concerned, has been posted online. We expect to hire an agency by December.”

However, waste management experts said even if there were corrigendums, the six-month delay is too long. It seems there are some modalities that have not much interested the players in the project.

The corporation had floated the RFP for the selection of concessionaire for establishment of an integrated waste processing plant of 550 TPD capacity along with operation and maintenance of the existing three garbage transfer stations for 17 years (two years for plant construction, 15 years for operations and maintenance) following the approval by the MC House.

The plant was to be constructed on a design-finance-own-operate-and-transfer basis. The agency has to construct the plant within two years on a 15-acre site at Dadu Majra. Land measuring 20 acres had recently been reclaimed through bioremediation and would be utilised for the setting up of the plant.

As per technology recommended by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), the wet waste is to be processed and bio CNG produced. The dry waste would be processed and the refuse derived fuel supplied to cement plants.

Civic body stuck with RFP

The request for proposal (RFP), which was floated on June 9 for hiring an agency, has faced repeated delays. The last date to send entries has once again been extended from November to December, apparently due a lack of interest from prospective agencies due to the terms and conditions of the project.