The Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) is finding it tough to get a private player to set up a waste to energy thermal power plant under public private partnership (PPP) model.
The civic body had planned to set up waste to energy thermal power plant with capacity of processing 500 metric tonnes of waste to generate 8 MW of electricity per day. For this plant SMC had even allotted 8 acres of land.
However, no firm came forward to bid for the plant. After two failed attempts, Essel Infra Projects submitted bids for to build, operate and maintain the plant. The company also demanded Rs 540 per tonne as handling charges for waste which worked out to Rs 7-7.5 crore per annum.
“In the past, we never paid money to private players to set up units. On the contrary, we have been getting royalty as private player earns by selling electricity,” said E H Pathan, executive engineer (Solid Waste), SMC.
A senior SMC official said that instead of paying Rs 7.5 crore per annum to a private player, SMC can build its own plant in Rs 60 crore. Even, ministry of environment and forest grants heavy subsidy for such projects, he added.
Since the Dream City project coming up at Khajod, SMC will have to shift its solid waste disposal site from there. The new site could be anywhere on Kadodara Road, near Sachin or on Olpad Road.
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Article source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/surat/SMC-may-go-solo-on-waste-to-energy-power-plant-project/articleshow/47455745.cms
