Kerala - Kochi   

Corporation to review ADB-aided garbage project

KOCHI: A special meeting of the Kochi Corporation Council on Monday decided to review the Rs.88-crore Asian Development Bank-aided solid waste management project in the wake of the councillors’ protest against passing the proposal for tendering.

Mayor Mercy Williams decided to put the proposal under review of the Standing Committees of Health and Development so that the councillors get to study the proposals before going for tendering. She said the mention about arbitrary location of collection containers should be studied. This contradicts with the concept of zero waste on the ground. Awareness should be generated on reducing and segregating the waste so that transportation cost also gets reduced.

The centralised waste management plant being set up by the Corporation would also take care of the waste from two municipalities and 13 panchayats.

The councillors said that while the Corporation had failed miserably in implementing any kind of waste management system, it should not hastily implement half-cooked measures at an inflated cost.

Councillor M. Anilkumar said the Corporation had on an earlier occasion said the ADB-aided project had an inflated estimate. Besides, the Corporation should adopt a clear policy on solid waste management, he said.

The Council would certainly like to know what had happened to the FACT Engineering and Design Organisation (FEDO) project for solid waste management, said councillor N. Venugopal. The Corporation had paid Rs.19 crore to FEDO to draw up a project. The councillors would like to study the project before giving approval to it, he said. It was a pity that more than five years had gone by and the Corporation had not been able to implement a system for waste management, he added.

Councillor Shyamala Prabhu said the ADB-aided project could not be approved before studying it. The project called for secondary collection from containers located at various places. The containers were a cause of worry in most of the divisions. There was no door-to-door collection of waste and if the containers were not emptied, the waste-clearing mechanism would go back to square one, she said. “Further, we are moving towards zero waste on the ground,” she said.

The councillors had a hard task replying to the people’s queries at the Grama Sabha meetings, she said. “I certainly do not want more containers in my division.”

Councillor K.J. Sohan said the ADB aid should be used after thorough discussions. Besides the decentralised system for treating kitchen waste, there should be an arrangement to collect other wastes that could be used for land fill, he added.

Councillors K.V. Manoj, Johnson Master, Sabu George, V.J. Hyacinth and M.S. Girish were among those who spoke.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Mohammed panel holds discussions
Panel examines former TDB president
Industrialist, wife dead
Directive on salary bills of High Court staff High Court Round-up
Directive on salary bills of High Court staff HIGH COURT ROUND-UP
Loan for paddy farmers
Plan to launch packed eggs
BJP leader dead
Postponed
Supplyco gears up for Onam
Kisan Sabha for stir
Kochi Today
Spell out stand on retail giants, Nazirudeen tells parties
Corporation to review ADB-aided garbage project
Maudany case hearing on September 10

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu