The Kozhikode Corporation has given nod to hand over 12.67 acres at Njeliyanparamba to the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) to set up the Integrated Solid Waste Management Plant for the waste-to-energy project.
The Corporation council on Wednesday decided to retain the agency that currently runs a plant at Njeliyanparamba until the completion of the KSIDC plant so that waste management in the city goes uninterrupted.
The land will be handed over based on a 27-year-long lease which prevents KSIDC, the nodal agency for the project, from using the land for any other purpose other than waste management. The agency that would run the plant will be selected based on responses to the expression of interest that has already been floated. The agency will have the freedom to change or update the technology used from time to time, but will have to run the plant for 27 years.
Kozhikode Corporation generates around 300 tonnes of waste every day, of which 60 to 80 tonnes go to the present treatment plant at Njeliyanparamba. Of the remaining refuse, around 100 tonnes are processed elsewhere.
Biodegradable waste is mostly processed at the source while non-biodegradable waste is sent for recycling.
The remaining waste is often dumped on the roadside or on waterbodies.
The plant is one of the seven similar plants to be set up across the State and would make energy from waste through gasification. It targets to produce around 100 mega watts of power every day while the remaining ashes will be used for brick building.
Some councillors, including S.V.S.M. Shameel, questioned the move and asked if the Corporation could not handle the plant directly. Health Standing Committee Chairman K.V. Baburaj said that the Corporation was not in a financial position to meet the daily requirements of such a plant.