Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to generate power from waste at the Deonar dumping ground. The idea is to produce at least four megawatts of electricity per day, from 600 metric tonnes of garbage. A proposal to this effect will be tabled at the upcoming standing committee meeting on Thursday.
The dumping ground at Deonar is the city’s largest and will now be known as a waste-to-power generation centre. This pet project of the BMC is now expected to see the light of the day. M/s Chennai M S W Private Limited have been selected for the implementation of this project. The current estimated cost of this project is more than Rs 6,000 crore while for the operation of this project for 15 years the estimated cost is likely to exceed Rs 10,000 crore.
According to civic authorities, the Deonar waste-to-power plant is expected to have the capacity to convert 6,000 metric tonnes of waste to electricity. The BMC collects around 6,000-7,000 metric tonnes of garbage daily. In 2014 too, a tender was floated for starting the project on a PPP model. At that time, six companies had shown interest, of which four were shortlisted, but the process was cancelled in 2015, owing to the interested parties' lack of experience and failure to satisfy project conditions.
Subsequently, in 2016, Tata Consulting Engineers Limited (TCE) was appointed as consultant. TCE then called for a tender to produce electricity from 3,000 metric tonnes of waste, but no tenders were received until November 7, 2017.
“Initially, tenders were floated for converting 3, 000 metric tonnes of waste but we did not get any response. Later, the criterion was reduced to converting 600 metric tonnes of waste into power. This time, of the four companies that submitted bids, the lowest bidder has been selected. After a nod from the standing committee, work is expected to begin and be completed within 40 months,” said Ashok Khaire, deputy municipal commissioner, solid waste department (SWD)
After reducing the energy generation requirement from 3, 000 to 600 megawatts, new tenders were floated in 2018. Of the three companies which showed interest, Chennai MSW Private Limited was selected. TCE had set an estimated cost of more than Rs 6, 000 crore for this project, while for 15 years, the estimated cost was beyond Rs 10,000 crore.
