Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) has terminated the contract of the agency to convert municipal waste into compost and electricity

Patna: The Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) has terminated the contract of the agency which had been assigned the job of setting up a plant to convert municipal waste into compost and electricity.

Patna mayor Sita Sahu, who confirmed that the agency’s contract was terminated on May 30, said now a fresh tender would be floated to award the work to some other agency in a fortnight.

“The decision of termination of the services of the private agency was taken after no progress was seen in the last four years in its work. The private firm has so far failed to set up a plant for the purpose. We shot off separate letters to the chief minister, the urban development and housing minister and other authorities earlier in which we made them acquainted about the lackadaisical approach of the agency. Finally, the agency’s contract has been terminated. Now, fresh tenders would be floated within the next 15 days to select some new agency for the work. An US-based agency has already shown interest in setting up a plant for converting waste into electricity, bio-diesel and water,” said Sahu.

Sahu said the US agency had given a proposal of producing 6,500MW electricity, 200 million litre bio-diesel and 300 million litre drinking water using 1,500 metric ton solid waste and 600 million litre wet waste. The agency had also communicated that it could further convert bio-diesel into bio-fuel whose supply would be given to households and that would be much cheaper than the LPG gas. Sahu said the agency was already in the final leg of setting up two such plants in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh for converting waste into electricity.

“The US firm had a meeting with the urban development and housing minister. However, the agency’s selection will be done through a proper tender process,” said Sahu.

Sahu said the agreement which would be signed with a new agency will have clauses that would bring down a lot of burden from the corporation such as it would have clause of giving rent allowance for transporting garbage from secondary to primary point at Sampatchak Bairaiya.

“The earlier contract didn’t have this clause,” she said.

The Muzaffarpur Municipal Corporation already has a plant which converts municipal waste into compost.

A plant in Madhya Pradesh is converting waste into energy. Some other municipal corporations in the country are handling their waste in a better manner as they are converting waste into useful resource.

Courtesy: The Telegraph