THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government seems to be grappling with lack of clarity over the waste-to-energy plants being proposed across various districts. The bidders who took part in the pre-bid meeting of Waste-to-Energy (WTE) project of minimum 5MW capacity at Njalianparambu,
Kozhikode, have raised concerns regarding some of the terms and conditions put forward in the request for proposal (RFP).
The bidders have termed the project as risk-prone, impractical and onerous if executed in the current format, as per the minutes of the pre-bid meeting convened by the bid evaluation committee on June 29. This concern was raised mainly regarding the condition of primary door-to-door collection being made a part of the tender. The bidders stressed the need for collection/tipping fee which was rejected by the committee.
"Attaching door to door collection with waste-to-energy projects has no precedent in India in terms of success. Both the operations have different capabilities. Also, we have raised strong concerns on the impracticability of not allowing a collection/tipping fee for the collection and transportation. The project in the current format is extremely onerous, risk prone and impractical," the bidders said as per the minutes.
The bidders have also been asked to make use of their 'diligence' in terms of finding existing waste analysis and calorific value of
municipal solid waste. As per the directions of the committee, the bidder will have to conduct separate studies to find out calorific value of solid waste, topographic study and soil study.
Confusion has also arisen over the sort of feedstock which will be provided. While as answer to a query, the committee says that the solid waste generated from all municipalities and local bodies provided in the RFP shall be the feedstock for the project.
The conditions for the concessionaire, however, say that all non-biodegradable waste viz. plastic, metal, glass, electronics and other items are to be segregated and sold to recyclers and other wastes such as rubber, tyres, upholstry, bags, etc. may be sold to cement or other factories as energy source.
Even in terms of power generation, the bidders have made it clear that the minimum capacity is of 300 tonnes per day with 4MW, but RFP says that power to be generated is of 5MW capacity with 200 tonnes per day. The committee fluctuates on this query and has answered that selected bidder need not guarantee power generation of 5MW.
As regarding the cost, the bidders have put the estimate at Rs 170 crore and the committee has said that they expect the cost to be around Rs 100 crore.
Image used for representational purpose only
