Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Nearly 400 buses in Indore will soon run on Bio-CNG to be generated from waste at a plant which will be virtually inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here in Madhya Pradesh on February 19, civic officials said on Thursday.
The plant has been set up in 15 acres of a trenching ground of the Indore Municipal Corporation in Devguradia area with an investment of Rs 150 crore through the public-private partnership (PPP) mode, they said.
The civic body has claimed it to be the largest such Bio-CNG plant in South Asia.
The plant is capable of producing 19,000 kg of Bio-CNG (compressed natural gas) per day from 550 tonne of wet waste (of fruits, vegetables, raw meat, stale food, green leaves and flowers) and a part of this gas produced will soon be used to run 400 buses in the city, officials in the civic said.
These buses are currently running on diesel and they would be converted to operate on Bio-CNG in a phased manner, they said.
In the first-phase, 55 Bio-CNG buses will start running in the city from this month itself, they added.
According to an official, the Indore Municipal Corporation has not spent a single rupee on this plant.
In fact, a private company roped in for setting up the plant will pay a premium of Rs 2.5 crore to the civic body every year in lieu of wet waste being provided to run the plant, he said.
As per an agreement with the company, the cost of the Bio-CNG to be sold to the civic body from the plant will be less by Rs 5 per kg than the prevailing market rate of the green fuel, the official said.
The city, having a population of around 35 lakh, generates nearly 700 tonne of wet waste and 400 tonne dry waste every day and different facilities have been set up here for its safe disposal.
Indore has been adjudged as the cleanest city in the country in the 'Swachh' survey for the last five years, as the cleanliness model here is based on the '3R' (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) model, officials said.
