Chandigarh MC mulls hiring NEERI to vet IIT's waste management plan

Chandigarh, November 23

The Municipal Corporation has proposed to appoint CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur, as the consultant to vet a request for proposal (RFP)/ detailed project report (DPR) prepared by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Ropar, on integrated solid waste management (SWM) processing facility for the city.

The Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC) of the civic body will take the call on the appointment in its meeting on Friday. NEERI scientists had visited the city last month to study the prevailing SWM situation and finalise the technology to be used to process waste.

The proposed RFP for integrated facility initially consisted of four waste management options/schemes. However, on preliminary discussions with the NEERI team, only one scheme was zeroed in by the MC. It consisted of biomethanation of wet waste, conversions of biogas into bio-CNG and providing refuse-derived fuel (RDF) to cement plant.

The MC has asked the CSIR-NEERI to vet the RFP and DPR on design, engineering, finance, construction, supply, installation, commissioning, performance and operation and maintenance of a facility having a capacity to process 550 tonnes waste per day for 25 years. The team has to see the adequacy of the facility to address certain elements of SWM and suggest necessary modifications to make it SWM Rules-compliant.

The scheme entails segregation of waste into biodegradable and non-biodegradable fractions, recovery of recyclables, biomethanation of biodegradable waste, routing recyclables through appropriate vendors, segregating and sending non-recyclable high-calorific fractions to cement/waste to energy plants. Only waste rejected in all these processes shall be sent to sanitary landfill site.

The team will check the availability of land with respect to integrated MSW processing facility. The CSIR-NEERI will have to complete the work in six months and will be paid Rs 12 lakh, excluding GST.

It was way back in June 2020 when the corporation had taken over the Jaypee Group-run waste processing plant in Sector 25. However, the civic body has so far failed to install a new plant even as the IIT, Ropar, report had stated that all machines here had outlived their lifespan.