MARGAO
On Tuesday, a Margao Municipal team headed by Municipal engineer Deepak Desai embarked on a road journey to Pune in neighbouring Maharashtra. Take note, the Municipal team will be joined on the way by a team of officials of the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC), Goa Energy Development Corporation (GEDA) and Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA).
Reason: The Goa Energy Development Agency (GEDA) is in receipt of a proposal from Pune-based M/s GD Environmental Pvt Ltd (GDEPL) on setting up of a gasification plant based on RDF/MSW.
Since M/s GDEPL has claimed it has installed a similar plant at Pune, the MMC team along with Goa government officials have all headed to Pune with a brief to study the plasma gasification plant based on RDF to generate electricity and pave way for the setting up of the pilot project at Sonsodo waste management site.
For the Margao Municipal Council, however, civic officials are back to Pune exactly after two decades and half after its tie-up with Pune-based Komex Engineering to treat the Sonsodo waste on scientific manner in 1998 had ended in a fiasco. That the waste composting machinery belonging to Ms Komex International was unearthed from Sonsodo during the remediation of the legacy dump only bears testimony to Margao Municipal Council’s failure to find a permanent solution to the waste imbroglio.
Indeed, the Mission Pune is a grim reminder that the Margao Municipality continues to grapple with the Sonsodo garbage management over the last 25 years as its experiment with a host of agencies, beginning with Ms Komex Pvt Ltd has failed to address the garbage issue plaguing the commercial capital.
In fact, since 1998 to 2023, over the span of two decades and half”the Margao civic body along with the government might have experimented with around half a dozen private players and technologies to evolve a solution to the burning issue, but in vain.
Presently, with no garbage treatment worth its name taking place at Sonsodo, the Margao Municipality is sending the daily wet waste to the Saligao waste treatment plant and the yet-to-be-commissioned Cacora plant.
Will the Pune Mission hold out any hope for Margao in its quest to find a permanent solution to the waste problem? When The Goan posed this question to Goa Energy Development Corporation (GEDA) Member Secretary Sanjeev Joglekar, he was candid in saying that it all depends on the outcome of the team’s visit to Pune.
He, however, hastened to add that that field visit to Pune is being arranged in order to verify the operational status and compliances to environmental regulations of the gasification plant proposed by the Pune-based company.
A glance at the official correspondence revealed that Sonsodo is being considered to set up the pilot project on plasma gasification plant based on RDF/MSW to generate electricity after the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) has informed GEDA that the Corporation has no land at the Saligao Solid Waste Management Plant and the Cacora plant to set up the proposed project.
Pune-based firm proposes to set up tri fusion reactor, provide detailed proposal
MARGAO: The Pune-based company has offered to set up a Tri Fusion Reactor, a state-of-the-art unit, believed to be a combination of gasification, dehydration and pyrolysis technology.
In its communication to GEDA Member Secretary Sanjeev Joglekar, the Pune-based company said it will prepare a Detailed Project Proposal for the plant at Sonsodo after the officials visit the facility at Pune and gain a comprehensive understanding of our operations and goals.
“This proposal will outline specific projects, initiatives, and areas where your involvement and support could make a significant difference in improving our waste management processes. This proposal will be a comprehensive document that reflects the insights gained during your visit and our shared commitment to addressing waste management challenges. We would also like to understand your plant requirement in terms of tonnage for the proposed pilot project at Sonsodo garbage treatment plant under MMC, Margao,” the company informed the GEDA Member Secretary.
