NMC to make money from garbage, inks pact

Staff Reporter

Mounting heaps of garbage in the city had been a major problem for the civic body for long. But, now the NMC seems to have struck gold while digging into the garbage heaps for a solution. The same garbage will now bring handsome returns to the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) with this new formula that can convert the waste into wealth for sure. The NMC has tied-up with Netherlands based M/s SusBDe for processing solid waste garbage into compressed bio-gas, Municipal Commissioner and Administrator Radhakrishnan B informed on Thursday. A concession agreement was signed between Jaap Veenenbos, CEO, M/s SusBDe, and Shweta Banerjee, Executive Engineer, Environment Department, NMC. Bart De Jong, Consulate General of Netherlands was present on the occasion. The company will set up a 600 TPD composting plant and 380 MTPD MRF Centre to process 1,200 metric tonne wet and dry waste together. The NMC will provide 29 acres of land at Bhandewadi for the plant. An initial agreement has been made for 15 years, which can later be extended by 15 years.

It's a win-win as no financial contribution is required from NMC, Radhakrishnan said. Since Nagpur is set to have the largest garbage processing facility of the country, the precious land at Bhandewadi Dumping Yard can be used for other fruitful purposes in time to come. The plant is going to be ready within a period of 18 months and with it the requirement of landfill for dumping garbage, nearly 1200 metric tonnes is collected daily in city, would not be necessary, he said during media interaction at NMC Headquarters in Civil Lines. Veenebos who also interacted with mediapersons said the company has proven technology and the plant will have zero waste discharge, barring the small amount of inert material that also is going to be put to some good use. Nor will it take any external water to process the waste nor any effluent is going to be discharged from the plant. The entire project is going to be environment friendly.

A beaming Municipal Commissioner said finally the decade old combination permutation being tried by successive teams of NMC officials have finally reached a definite end and that too on a successful note. Apart from getting Rs. 15 lakh annual rent for land being leased for erection of processing plant, NMC would also get 50 per cent share in carbon credit. It is a path breaking initiative of NMC in dealing with solid waste management under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. When querried whether NMC's policy of zero waste would be reconsidered, since more the garbage more the revenue generation from processing, Radhakrishnan quipped, instead citizens should double their focus on segregation.

The more segregated garbage is provided, more biogas can be generated which is a environment friendly fuel. As M/s SusBDe is going to invest it own funds, this is the first Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) project in second capital of the State. Asked about turning the corner given the huge investment required, Japp was of view that from very next day of plant coming on stream they would starting generating revenue. Nearly 27 million cubic meter compressed bio-gas is going to be produced annually at Bhandewadi plant.

About the historic garbage lying at Bhandewadi, the Municipal Commissioner said M/s SusBDe is going to provide technology for bio-mining 13 lakh metric tonnes of garbage. In next few years a substantial change would be noticed at Bhandewadi and people in its viccinity would be able to breathe fresh air. At present about 60 to 70 per cent of garbage is segregated and given the need of company NMC would need to increase the ratio to 90 per cent above. Consulate General of Netherlands, was also present during the media interaction.