Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Move to keep Vilappilsala project on track

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the city Corporation preparing to take over the operation of the garbage treatment plant at Vilappilsala from the Poabsons Group, the Government and the local body have initiated a series of measures to ensure the uninterrupted functioning of the seven-year-old project.

The Corporation has the option to identify a new partner for the project or operate the plant on its own with technical support by an external agency. Efforts are on to settle the financial liabilities incurred by the plant operators and use funds from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) to modernise the plant and improve its operational efficiency.

The operating company has agreed to a phased exit over a period of two months. During this period, it will continue running and maintaining the plant with the Corporation.

The Corporation is learnt to have approached an NGO seeking technical assistance to operate the plant in a scientific manner. Moves are on to fast-track the establishment of a leachate treatment unit and a sanitary landfill.

The work on capping the accumulated garbage at the project site has been held up by the delay on the part of the Revenue Department in assessing the value of two acres to be acquired from the bordering areas. G.R. Anil, chairman, Health standing committee, said the Collector had been requested to speed up the evaluation procedure.

The dispute over the investment on the project and the operational losses has been a prickly issue for the joint venture partners. While a Government-appointed committee put the investment at Rs.6.18 crore, the Corporation puts the figure at Rs.5 crore.

Poabsons claimed that it invested Rs.10.8 crore on the joint venture project. In its report, the Government committee stated that the Corporation was responsible for selling the organic manure produced by the plant as a by-product.

It also proposed Rs.560 per tonne as tipping fee to be given by the Corporation to Poabsons.

During discussions with the Government, the Corporation maintained that the committee prepared its report unilaterally without consulting it.

A 21-member technical committee set up by the local body reported that the plant had a capacity of 156 tonnes only, against a claim of 300 tonnes. It said the compensation claim by the company for short-supply of garbage was not valid.

The technical committee report noted that the Corporation was not responsible for the operational inefficiency. It also said the demand raised by Poabsons for additional land was unjustifiable.

In view of the technical committee’s report, the Corporation has urged the Government for an independent financial evaluation of the project.

Poabson’s project director Abraham Jacob said the plant accumulated a loss of Rs.28 crore over the last seven years, in addition to other liabilities like investment and interest on loan. “In the absence of a buyback agreement, we are left with a stock of over 12,000 tonnes of manure,” he said.

Mr.Jacob maintains that the figures given by the technical committee are flawed. “It has worked out the estimates based on a 50 per cent recovery rate while the actual rate is only 15 to 20 per cent,” he said. He expressed the hope that the Government would work out a good settlement.

Prof. R.V.G. Menon, member of the technical committee, said the absence of regular monitoring and quality control affected the operations of the Vilappilsala plant.

He stressed the need for a coordinated action plan for segregation of garbage at source and to set up a decentralised network of solid waste treatment plants across the city. He also called for a sanitary landfill to dispose of the composting rejects from the plant.

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