Waste to energy project on, to be commissioned by Jan 2020: Co

Nagpur: Though it is reportedly facing a financial crisis, Essel Infraprojects Private Ltd has assured the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) that it would begin work on the waste-to-energy project within a month and commission it by January 2020. The company has secured a loan for the project from Power Finance Corporation Limited.
For this project, the NMC had executed an agreement with Nagpur Solid Waste Processing and Management Private Ltd (NSWPMPL) — a joint venture of Essel Infra and Japan-based Hitachi Zosan India Private Ltd — on May 4, 2017. As per the agreement, the company was supposed to commission the plant within two years.

The company has not started any work at the proposed site at Bhandewadi dumping yard. For the last couple of months, the company has been in the news for being in a financial crisis.

Also, the NMC is dumping around 1,200 tonne of garbage which are going untreated. Some NMC officials felt that Essel may not be able to execute the project.

Municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar held a meeting with project director Jeewan Sonwane a couple of days ago. “We did not receive any information about Essel backing out from the project. We directed the company to begin work at the site within 15 days,” said Bangar.

Sonwane, who is a retired municipal commissioner, told TOI that he too heard about the company’s financial crisis through media reports. “This project has no problems. We require 14 types of permission for starting the work and all took time for processing. Now everything is in place. We have ordered machineries from Hitachi and should receive them in the next two months. The trial run of the plant will start from January 2020,” he said.

According to Sonwane, the waste to energy project will be only the third in the country. “It will be Essel’s second project with the first being in Jabalpur,” he said.

Jindal Urban Infrastructure Ltd has a similar plant at Okhla in New Delhi.

Following a delay, the NMC Pench Project Cell has proposed that a penalty of Rs1 crore be levied on Essel. It is yet to be approved by NMC’s top officials.

Sonwane said the company should not be penalized as the deadline of two years started from November when Essel managed to seal the financial deal. “The NMC has misinterpreted the deadline. We are targeting to commission the project before the deadline lapses,” he said.

An NMC official said the deadline of two years ended in November 2017. “As per the agreement, the company was to complete the project within two years from handing over land. We handed over six acres in August 2017 and another four acres in November 2017. Action will be taken on the company in case work doesn’t begin as per the deadline fixed,” he said.

Under the project, Essel Infra has to set up a plant to generate 11.5MW power from 800 tonnes of garbage every day. The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission had approved a tariff of Rs7 per unit. The NMC, Essel Infra and MSEDCL had executed a tripartite agreement under which power generated from the plant will be procured by MSEDCL at the rate of Rs7 per unit round the clock.