Margao: Seven modern waste treatment plants will be put up at Sonsoddo waste dumpsite to treat the waste generated in Margao municipal council (MMC) areas and the same will be operational by January next year, Minister for Waste Management Michael Lobo said on Wednesday.
Lobo along with Margao MLA Digambar Kamat, Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai, and chairperson of Margao Municipal Council (MMC) Pooja Naik visited the Sonsoddo dump site for the first time in the shadow of COVID pandemic.
Lobo said, “If everything goes well and we all – leader of opposition, Fatorda legislator and MMC remain on same page, in the next two and half months, we will be completing the formalities and by January 2021, the contractor would start the work at Sonsoddo. The waste treatment will be on lines of Saligao plant where electricity would be generated from waste.”
Lobo explained that four waste treatment plants will be put up at the shed located towards the road with 500 to 600 sq mts of land required for each plant and the waste dumped at the bigger shed will be brought for treatment and once it becomes empty, another three plants will be installed there.
Lobo said that all the wet waste will be treated at the plants and the dry waste will be balled out on an everyday basis adding, “The Goa Waste Management Corporation will assist the MMC. The new technology will take care of all the waste.”
He said that 50 per cent of the total 1,35,000 tonne of legacy waste has already been treated adding, “We have decided to bring all the waste treatment under one roof and seek the support of Margao and Fatorda legislators in this regard,” he repeated.
Kamat said that Lobo had assured in the last assembly session to resolve the issue of Sonsoddo waste treatment plant adding, “If all the waste treatment is done at one place, it will be good.”
Sardesai said that solid waste management corporation knows about the nitty-gritty of the plant adding, “We assure our cooperation to the government on the issue. We are awaiting the action plan.”