The city is keenly awaiting the inaugural of three major projects — the NAD flyover, a Waste-to-Energy recycling plant at Kapuluppada, and a Multi-Level Car Parking Project (MLCP).
While the flyover project is under the purview of the Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority (VMRDA), the Waste-to-Energy plant and the MLCP are being taken up by the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC). Officials said that all the projects are in the final phase of construction.
A month ago, Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development Botcha Satyanarayana announced that the Waste-to-Energy plant will be inaugurated in April. However, the inaugural was delayed due to the Urban Local Body (ULB) elections.
It may be recalled that in February 2016, GVMC had entered into an agreement with JIFT Urban Infrastructure Limited for the project. In December 2018, GVMC had given 17.08 acres of land at Kapuluppada on lease for a period of 25 years. GVMC will supply 900 to 1,000 tonnes of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) gathered from the households on a daily basis to the plant and will also bear the transportation costs. The company would generate 15 MW of power from the waste collected. Discoms will procure electricity generated by the plant.
Meanwhile, the MLCP project was also initiated two years ago as part of the Smart City project to provide parking space near Jagadamba Junction. The G+5 MLCP project is being taken up by a Pune-based private company at a cost of ₹9.7 crore, and it will accommodate around 100 cars. GVMC officials have carried out a trial run of the project in February.
“The waste-to-energy plant was scheduled to be completed by mid-2020, but work was delayed due to COVID-19 and lack of labour. Another deadline of December 2020 was also missed due to the delay in the project. Similar is the situation with the MLCP, which too was delayed due to financial issues in 2019 and again due to COVID-19 in 2020. Both the projects will be completed at the earliest,” said a senior official from GVMC.
Meanwhile, the much-awaited NAD flyover is in the final stages of completion. Most of the work on the flyover is complete, except for one rotary from Marripalem to NAD Junction. As of now, only the lower rotary, beautification, and electrification works are being carried out.
VMRDA officials are planning to invite Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to inaugurate the project.