Waste disposal a solid problem for cities of Gujarat

Nimesh Khakhariya / TNN / Updated: Sep 17, 2024, 11:39 IST

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Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, and Vadodara in Gujarat are struggling with solid waste management. Waste-to-energy plants planned for these cities have seen repeated delays. The Rajkot project has particularly faced setbacks, missing multiple deadlines and incurring significant costs for the municipal corporation while causing pollution issues at the Nakrawadi dumping site.

Waste disposal a solid problem for cities of Gujarat

The civic body’s landfill site at Nakrawadi in Rajkot has been a source of concern for villagers, who recently held protests complaining about the pollution caused by leachate after heavy rain

RAJKOT/VADODARA/AHMEDABAD: With major cities of Gujarat such as Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and Vadodara generating tonnes of solid waste (SW) every day, waste-to-energy plants have become a necessity. Besides generating power from solid waste, the plants can also help reduce land and water pollution.
However, the waste-to-energy plants (WEPs) proposed in Rajkot, Ahmedabad and Vadodara have failed to take off since they continue to remain work-in-progress projects.These projects have missed deadlines several times and recently got fresh ones from the govt.
The WEP in Rajkot, considered the most ambitious by the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC), missed the March 2020 deadline, causing embarrassment to the RMC. It now has a new deadline set for the end of this fiscal. The delay has been costing RMC Rs 2.40 lakh every day on waste segregation and transport.
A similar project in Vadodara has also missed its 2021 deadline and is now scheduled for completion by March 2025.

In Ahmedabad, the civic body has been working for the past decade to implement projects to generate electricity from solid waste but has not yet succeeded. Despite assigning work to the companies and allotting a plot, the WEP is yet to become operational.
The Rajkot project was assigned to a joint venture between Abellon Energy Private Limited and Keppel Seghers, which formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV) - Good Watts WTE Rajkot Private Limited. RMC had high hopes for this project, believing it would resolve the

pollution issues at Nakrawadi dumping site. However, the extended deadlines have created several challenges for RMC.
The civic body's landfill site at Nakrawadi has been a source of concern for its villagers, who recently held protests complaining about the pollution caused by leachate after heavy rain.
The villagers even stopped garbage trucks from entering Nakrawadi, demanding that senior RMC officials first address pollution-related issues. The Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) too issued a notice to RMC, directing them to take immediate action. RMC sources said they are helpless until the waste-to-energy plant becomes operational.
RMC currently dumps 700 metric tonnes of solid waste every day at Nakrawadi. The site already has around 10 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste. The corporation spends Rs 2.40 lakh a day on waste segregation, with reusable waste being sent for Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) production.
Nilesh Parmar, RMC's environment engineer, stated, "The deadline of WEP has been extended to March 2025, but we have asked the contractor to process the SW from the current financial year at their own cost, till the plant gets operational."
(With input from Sachin Sharma in Vadodara, Jignesh Parmar in Ahmedabad)