Tamil Nadu - Vellore   

Ranipet plans to privatise work on solid waste management centre

Photo: D. Gopalakrishnan

Work under way: Construction of a compound wall in progress at Marudhambakkam —

VELLORE: The Ranipet Municipality is planning to entrust to a private party the work on establishing the integrated solid waste management (SWM) centre for Ranipet, Walajapet and Arcot Municipalities on the 12.50-acre site selected for the project in Krishnapuram in Marudhambakkam village panchayat in Walajapet panchayat union.

With the Madras High Court dismissing the petition filed by the Marudhambakkam village panchayat seeking to restrain the municipality from establishing the SWM centre in the panchayat, the Ranipet Municipality started work recently on the construction of a compound wall for the project.

A couple of private parties have approached Municipal Chairman P. Krishnamoorthy with an offer of undertaking the SWM project if the land was allotted to them.

The municipality is now mulling over the idea of handing over the project to the private sector since it would result in considerable savings for the Ranipet as well as the Walajapet and Arcot Municipalities. But the proposal is still in a nascent stage, according to Sundarammal, Municipal Commissioner.

The SWM is to be implemented at a cost of Rs.1.08 crore, with the Ranipet Municipality, which has been entrusted with the task of executing the project, contributing Rs.40 lakh, and the Walajapet and Arcot Municipalities Rs.34 lakh each. The compound wall is to be constructed at a cost of Rs.23 lakh.

The project comprised door-to-door collection of garbage from the houses, transporting it to the SWM centre, segregation of the wastes into biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes, and composting of the biodegradable wastes. In the event of the project being handed over to the private sector, the municipality needs just to hand over the land to the private party, which would provide the infrastructure facilities at its own cost, and also carry out all the works connected with the implementation of the project.

The party could make profits by selling the compost and the non-biodegradable items for recycling.

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