Two years after the state cabinet approved a plant that would do the ambitious and highly profitable job of converting post-consumer waste plastics into fuel oil, neither has the plant taken off nor has the local municipal council even seen the proposal for this plant, according to their claims.
At first, this plant was due to be set up in the Bicholim Municipal Council jurisdiction but some councilors opposed the plan. It was then shifted to Pernem, where 8000 square metres of land was handed over to the company with the patent for the plant, adjacent to a now defunct solid waste management plant. The plan is to convert the plastics obtained from municipal solid waste into hydrocarbon derivatives, which can then be sold to companies for industrial use. Currently, this waste is sent to Karnataka to get processed, an operation that costs Rs 20,000 for every 10 tonnes sent. Since December 2011, the government has sent over 4200 tonnes. That’s a little over Rs 8.5 crore rupees spent in four years.
On the flip side, a six crore rupee loan has been given to the company in three installments to build this processing plant, a loan that will be paid back with an interest of three percent. If the costs escalate, the company will bear them, not the government. This is a very profitable situation considering that the land and all the assets attached to it will revert back to government after the lease period of 30 years. In addition to that, the government will get a royalty of two percent on the net sale value of crude oil. The Pernem Municipal Council will benefit too, by receiving 50 percent of this royalty.
Now, here’s the kicker. Despite all these clauses and fine points in place. Despite the fact that the project has approvals from the Town and Country Planning department, the Fire Services and the Goa State Pollution Board, the Pernem Municipal Council has yet to pass the project and award the construction licence. The local MLA has now spoken to the PMC and claims that they are on board and will pass the project.
The question here is, why does it take this long to get such a profitable project passed. This is not just profitable financially but environmentally too. There is a solution within Goa to now convert plastic waste into fuel, which can be sold to industries. This project will create a few jobs and also create another revenue stream for the Pernem Municipal Council. There will also be a chance to expand this project based in increased inflow, which means that Goa can start taking contracts from other vendors and neighbouring areas if need be.
Projects such as this from the Goa State Urban Development Agency, which will be beneficial to the state and the area where it is based must be given speedy approvals. Goa has to capitalize on the fact that there will be a sudden boom in infrastructure development in renewable energy and environment related processing plants such as this one. Logic demands that processes are made easy or we will not just lose out on interesting ways to generate revenue but also methods on battling climate change.
