Outsourcing door-to-door exercise will cost civic body close to whopping Rs 7 cr
File photo of vehicles transporting waste from Sonsodo to Cacora plant.
MARGAO
The Margao Municipal Council is bracing up to perform the annual ritual – to float an e-tender for the outsourcing of door-to-door waste collection in the commercial capital.
But, hazard a guess how much money will the civic body spend on the private contractors to collect the door-to-door waste, besides the total funds that will go for garbage management?
Well, outsourcing of the door-to-door waste collection itself will cost the civic body close to a whopping Rs seven crore, around Rs 6.70-odd crores to be precise.
That’s not all. With no waste treatment facility in place at the Sonsodo waste management complex, the Margao Municipal spends over Rs one crore on waste transportation to the Cacora waste treatment facility, around Rs 1.20 crore annually on waste transportation.
Add to this the amount of funds spent on the fleet of vehicles as well as manpower engaged in the transportation of the waste collected door to door from the city to the Sonsodo waste management shed.
If Margao Municipal officials in the know are to be believed, the MMC may end up spending a whopping Rs 10 crore annually in the event the Goa Waste management Corporation (GWMC) decides to levy fees for the treatment of garbage at the Cacora waste treatment plant.
Civic officials pointed out that the door-to-door waste collection tender for the appointment of two contractors, one each for Margao and Fatroda Municipal areas, will be floated soon. Sources, however, pointed out that the MMC’s plan to spend extra funds on the outsourcing work on the contractors has not found favour with the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA).
As per the system in place, the MMC has outsourced the door-to-door waste collection in the city. However, the waste collected by the contractors is transported by the Civic body with its own fleet of vehicles and manpower.
No waste treatment in
commercial capital
Sadly, waste generated in the commercial capital, is not treated by the Margao Municipal Council. In fact, the Margao Municipal Council has outsourced treatment of waste to the Goa Waste Management Corporation at its plant at Cacora when the Sonsodo waste management shed has been lying idle for the last one year for want of any treatment facility.
In fact, while the MMC has carted out and remediated thousands of tonnes of waste piled up inside the Sonsodo waste management shed after spending lakhs of rupees, waste treatment facility is yet to fall in place till date for reasons best known to the City Fathers, the Municipal babus and the Powers that be controlling the civic body.
When The Goan sought to know from Margao Municipal officials the status of the proposal to set up a waste management plant at Sonsodo, they were point blank in saying the decision is pending with the Chief Minister-headed High Powered Coordination Committee (HPCC).
5TPD Bio-methanation
Plant down and out
Margao Municipal Council’s lone 5TPD Bio-Methanation plant set up with a private contractor at the SGPDA market complex has been down and out since last year after the expiry of the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB’s) Consent to establish and operate.
Officials in the know informed that the plant has been lying defunct ever since the GSPCB directed the Margao Municipality to shift the bio-methanation plant from the SGPDA market. The defunct plant, however, has been lying at the site since then, with the Margao Municipal Council neither moving the GSPCB with a plea to resume operations at the plant or have taken steps to shift the plant and machinery from the market.
