Deonar crisis at tipping point
Dispute Over Tipping Fee Disrupts Citys Garbage Plans, Ensures Air Pollution Will Continue ………Sharad Vyas
The 16-member BMC standing committee and the civic administration are again at loggerheads after the committee called for a new round of bids for the project to close the Deonar dump. The committee has effectively rejected the Rs 5,500-crore bid approved by the administration, delaying the much-needed project by another year.
Mumbai generates 10,000 tons of waste a day, 70% of which is taken to the saturated Deonar ground. The project would scientifically close half the ground and make the other half a sanitary landfill. The same Public Private Partnership (PPP) model was to be repeated at Mulund and Kanjurmarg, helping ease the citys garbage woes tremendously.
The standing committee that rejected the proposal was, ironically, the same committee that earlier entrusted IL&FS with the responsibility of coming up with a solution for managing the citys garbage. IL&FS came up with the PPP model the standing committee approved.
Dejected civic officials on Tuesday said that despite giving hundreds of pages of explanation on the Deonar project, the standing committee held it back because it wants a model free of a tipping fee. The bid chosen by the civic administration asks for a fee of Rs 550 per 1,000 tons.
Even in Europe and the US, they do not approve of free waste-processing, whatever the technology. Instead of looking for a company that doesnt ask for a tipping fee, the committee should be cautious of false promises and dubious fund arrangements, said a senior BMC official.
Administration officials said that committee members may be favouring a Hyderabad-based firm that was earlier rejected. The firm, which quoted a lesser amount, was rejected on technical grounds. Two of them were that the firm did not offer carbon-credit benefits and preferred third-party garbage collection.
The same firm quoted a low tipping fee of Rs 69.30 for 1,800 tons of garbage at Chennais Kodungaiyur dump. How can they then quote a higher amount for Deonar, an equally big project? asked a BMC administrator. The Chennai bid was later pipped by an even lower one.
But standing committee member Yogesh Sagar said, The committee doesnt hold back proposals for vested interest. It works for the public good. The firm proposed for contract has not done proper waste management at the ward level, so how can it handle a bigger project?
AS THE CRORES FLY
AS THE CRORES FLY
The BMC standing committee controls a vast amount of civic money. In 2008-09, it approved infrastructure works worth over Rs 8,212 crore in a total BMC budget of Rs 16,792 crore. One of the main functions of the committee is to sanction funds for works worth over Rs 10 lakh. Proposals worth less than that are generally cleared by the commissioner or at the ward level.