3 yrs on,work begins on solid waste project in Lucknow

After a delay of more than three years,work has finally begun on the solid waste management project in the capital.

After a delay of more than three years,work has finally begun on the solid waste management project in the capital. Jyoti Enviro Tech Private Limited,the private firm selected for setting up and operating the project,has started construction on a 19-hectare site on Mohan Road,which will have a processing plant as well as the garbage disposal site.

The Centre had approved the project in 2007 and its sanctioned cost was Rs 42.92 crore. The Centre agreed to fund 50 per cent of the project and released the first installment of Rs 5.36 crore in 2008. The project was to be completed later that year,but the deadline kept getting extended. The last extension was up to March 2011.

Putting this project in the category of non-starters,the Centre had last year said the funds released for it would either be taken back or diverted to other projects if the state failed to submit the utilisation certificate of the first installment by December 31,2010. The UP Jal Nigam,the nodal agency of the project,managed to save it by hurriedly purchasing some equipment.

The firm got possession of 19 hectares of land in Sivri village on Mohan Road on city outskirts earlier this week. Leveling of land and construction of boundary walls for the processing plant and landfill site have just started. We have to complete the landfill site within three months to provide a place for disposal of municipal solid waste, said S Charanjeet Singh,Director of Jyothi Enviro Tech Private Limited.

Singh said that nine hectares of additional land is required to make the landfill site sufficient for 30 years. The complete solid waste management project would be ready in next eight months, said RK Gaur,Technical Adviser,Construction and Design Services,UP Jal Nigam. As there is no planned garbage disposal system in the state capital,the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) dumps the collected waste haphazardly at open places on the citys outskirts on Hardoi Road and Sultanpur Road. The project got delayed because of the unavailability of land.

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