MARGAO
It’s an open secret that Sonsodo has been a laboratory for waste treatment technology over the years, beginning with the plant set up by Pune-based Ms Komex International in the late 90s.
Around 25 years down the line, Sonsodo will play host to the gasification technology for the treatment of waste, reportedly developed by a Pune-based company. The Goa Energy Development Agency (GEDA) is bracing itself to tender afresh the 10TPD waste disposal system based on gasification technology as a pilot project at Sonsodo, to treat mixed waste generated in the commercial capital.
The last time, the tender floated by GEDA inviting bids from prospective bidders to implement the pilot project at Sonsodo had gone begging, after receiving a lone bid for the project.
Sources said GEDA has moved a file to the government to float a fresh tender inviting bids from prospective parties to take the project to its logical conclusion. That the government is seriously considering the implementation of the gasification technology at Sonsodo became evident on Wednesday when Congress-turned-BJP Margao senior MLA Digambar Kamat said the government will soon re-float the tender for the 10-tonne gasification garbage plant at Sonsodo.
GEDA officials also confirmed that the gasification technology will get another push from the government, which will result in the floating of a fresh tender to set up the 10TPD plant at Sonsodo. “GEDA will re-float the tender after receiving the government’s nod. The successful bidder will be required to design, supply, install, test, and commission the 10TPD gasification technology-based waste disposal system for the treatment of municipal solid waste at Sonsodo,” officials said, adding that the agency will be required to sign a five-year comprehensive operation and maintenance contract with the Margao Municipal Council.
On the funding of the gasification garbage treatment plant facility, GEDA officials said the project, estimated to cost around Rs 6-7 crore, will be totally funded by the Margao Municipal Council with funds allocated to the civic body by the Finance Commission.
What’s the gasification plant all about?
GEDA has proposed the gasification technology at Sonsodo in order to dispose of mixed waste, both RDF and solid waste, mostly generated at the city’s black spots, receiving unsegregated waste from various quarters.
GEDA officials, however, have made it clear that the segregated wet waste generated in the commercial capital, around 30 tonnes per day, needs to be disposed of either at the Cacora waste treatment plant, as is being done by the civic body, or through the establishment of a common waste disposal facility for the purpose.
“The gasification technology is primarily aimed at disposing of mixed and unsegregated waste dumped at the city’s black spots. That’s the reason why we are going for a 10TPD plant. To dispose of the wet waste, the MMC will have to continue sending the waste to Cacora, or set up another plant or go for a common waste treatment facility for the entire Salcete,” sources said.
GEDA tried to experiment with the gasification technology after it received a proposal from Pune-based Ms GD Environmental Pvt Ltd (GDEPL) for setting up a gasification plant based on RDF/MSW.
After Ms GDEPL had claimed it had installed a similar plant in Pune, a joint delegation of officials went to Pune to study the plasma gasification plant based on RDF to generate electricity.
Why gasification plant at Sonsodo?
According to sources, GEDA has proposed to the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) to set up the gasification plant, but the Corporation replied back to GEDA saying the GWMC has no land at its disposal to set up the plant.
Left with no option and with Sonsodo witnessing a turnaround with the legacy waste cleared from the site, GEDA then proposed to set up the pilot project at Sonsodo on behalf of the Margao Municipal Council.
In Margao, however, questions have been raised in the corridors of the Margao civic body and outside, whether the government is treating Sonsodo as a laboratory to experiment with new technologies for waste treatment.
For, the Margao municipality had a bitter experience with companies, beginning with Pune-based Komex International, which set up a waste treatment plant at Sonsodo in the late 90s, only to wind up the operations within a year.
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No decision on bio-methanation plant yet
Even as Margao MLA Digambar Kamat on Wednesday admitted that a fresh tender will be floated by the Goa Energy Development Agency (GEDA) for the gasification plant at Sonsodo, the Chief Minister-headed High Powered Coordination Committee (HPCC) is yet to meet to take a call on the setting up of a 15TPD bio-methanation plant at Sonsodo.
The imposing Sonsodo waste management shed is lying idle with no plant to treat waste at the waste management facility.
In the absence of a waste treatment plant at Sonsodo, around 50 tonnes of waste, 30 tonnes of wet waste and 15-20 tonnes of dry waste are being transported by the Margao Municipal Council to the Cacora waste treatment plant.
In fact, it’s more than six months since the government had made a submission in the High Court in a Public Interest Litigation that the HPCC would soon meet to take a call on the setting up of the 15TPD Bio-methanation plant, but in vain.
With no garbage treatment taking place at Sonsodo, the imposing waste management shed has been lying idle since the piled-up waste was carted out and remediated by the Goa Waste Management Corporation months ago.
