KMC seeks more foreign pact

Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) was eyeing more foreign participation in terms of technological intervention and more public private partnership in solid waste management projects, said Alapan Bandyopadhyay , municipal commissioner of Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

"But these foreign technologies need to be customized to make it economically viable for the city," he added.

At an investor meet, Solid Waste Management Solutions, organised by the British trade and investment, Bandyopadhyay said, “Technological intervention is needed, but there is a greater need for customization of these foreign technologies to our situation making it economically viable. We have more than 30,000 sweepers, a huge workforce who cannot be done away with overnight, or replaced by capital intensive technologies.” Approximately 8,262 ton of solid waste was generated every day in the city of Kolkata, 62 per cent of which was household waste, and could be treated, pointed out Arnab Ray of KMC. Roughly Rs 496 crore is spent for treating per ton of solid waste, which can be reduced with the help of technologies.

Gartner Lee, a Canadian company had conducted a survey on the apt mode for solid waste management projects,but failed to derive a conclusion because of some fundamental problems like limited ability to pay with some of the technologies being highly capital intensive, mentioned Bandyapadhyay.

He also said that although UK-based environment companies were renowned for their expertise and impartial advice, particularly in the field of consultancy services and project management, incidentally none had participated in a big manner in any of the tenders floated by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation for any of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission projects in the city. “Incidentally none of the UK-based companies till date have participated in any of the tenders floated by KMC for any of the urban development projects. Companies from Australia and Germany have participated, but none from UK,” said Bandyopadhyay.

The solid waste management industry in the UK is a eight billion pound industry with more than 300 companies and 70,000 employees.

Almost 330 million tons of solid waste was treated every year and 4.7 per cent of the total electricity requirements were met by renewables with solid waste contributing 30 per cent of it, claimed Jonathan Swan, a representative of the UK waste industry. “We have not yet started any projects in Kolkata, but we would look for more central participation and some more incentives to come in private partnership,” he added.