MARGAO
With the February 28 time frame to complete work on the remediation of the Sonsodo legacy dump ending on Tuesday, the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) on Monday said it will take the agency another 10-15 days to complete the work on the Sonsodo legacy dump.
The GWMC, however, pointed out that carting away and transportation of the Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) from Sonsodo will take some time, depending on the acceptance of RDF by the cement factories in Karnataka.
A visit to the Sonsodo dump yard revealed that machinery was at work to remediate the balance portion of the legacy dump. A stranger to Sonsodo would come across a huge mound of waste dumped at the site, but GWMC Managing Director Levinson Martins explained that the piled up waste seen along the main Margao-Curtorim road is not the legacy dump, but RDF and inert generated during the remediation.
When The Goan called up the GWMC Managing Director to shed light on the status of the ongoing work given that the undertaking made in the court to remediate the legacy dump ends on February 28, Martins said the remediation is finally coming to an end.
“We have almost completed the remediation work. A small portion of the dump remains to be remediated,” he said while exuding confidence that the entire remediation work should hopefully end within a fortnight.
“Work on the Sonsodo legacy dump remediation has been progressing as per schedule. As per the agreement with the contractor, the entire remediation work is scheduled to end by February end 2023. The time frame expires on Tuesday, and we hope to complete the balance work within 10-15 days,” Martins said.
He added: “The huge dump one can see from the roadside is not the legacy dump, but the RDF and inert. This needs to be carted away. But, the GWMC and the contractor have time till December 2024 to cart away the RDF and inert,” he said.
He added: “Carting away the RDF will depend on its acceptance by the cement factories in Karnataka. This is one area which is not in our hands. We have to wait for the cement factories to give us the nod. Till such time, the RDF will remain at Sonsodo.”
The Goa Waste Management Corporation had submitted to the High Court during the hearing of the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Citizens for Sonsodo through its Secretary Roque Mascarenhas that work of remediation of the balance quantity of legacy waste (approximately 88296 m3) or such quantity of entire legacy waste is as there at the site will be positively cleared by February 28, 2023.
Remediation work of the Sonsodo legacy dump started around three years ago with the GWMC-appointed contractor mobilizing machinery at the site.
