the goan I network
MARGAO
A day after officials received a virtual cold shoulder for the biomining project in the corridors of the civic body, GSUDA officials on Tuesday took a decision to go ahead with the opening of the financial bid. This has sent a message loud and clear that it will not shelve the ongoing process to take up the biomining project just because the Margao municipality expressed its inability to make available the landfill site to house the rejects.
“Since our process to tender the biomining project had reached the stage of opening of the financial bid, GSUDA has decided to go ahead with the opening of the tender, notwithstanding that the MMC had expressed its reservations on the availability of the landfill site for the rejects generated during the biomining operation,” GSUDA Member Secretary Elvis Gomes told The Goan.
When asked how GSUDA or the contractor, who bags the biomining contract, will handle the rejects generated during the operation, Gomes maintained that these and other questions will be addressed by the agency in the days to come with cooperation from the Margao civic body. “There’s still time to resolve all such issues. Right now, we have decided not to abandon the tendering process, but to open the bids. We can work out the modalities between the opening of the financial bids and the actual issuance of the work order for the contractor,” he said.
Sources in the GSUDA informed that the agency is weighing various options how to deal with the rejects generated during the biomining operation. “One option being weighed is creating space within the 15,000 square-meter waste dumping site to house the rejects instead of sending these to the landfill site proposed to be built at the site,” remarked an official.
Meanwhile, Fomento Green has maintained that the landfill site being constructed by the company at Sonsodo is only meant for rejects generated by the waste treatment plant as mandated by the integrated solid waste management and not for any rejects outside the purview of the agreement.
“Fomento Green is mandated to set up the landfill site to house the rejects generated by the waste treatment plant. The proposed landfill site will have a life span of around five years. I do not see the possibility of the landfill site accepting rejects from any other source, including the existing dump yard,” asserted Fomento Green Chief Executive Officer Sridhar Kamat. Margao Municipal Chairperson Babita Angle Prabhudesai echoed similar sentiments. “I do not think that the landfill site proposed to be built by Fomento Green can accommodate rejects from the existing dump yard. The municipality will have to find an alternate place to dump the rejects generated during the biomining operation,” Babita said.
