UP to launch solid waste management in 23 cities

Uttar Pradesh government has planned to launch solid waste management projects under public private partnership (PPP) mode in about 23 urban centres by the end of this financial year.

These projects would not only solve the problem of domestic solid waste disposal, it would provide solid fuel for thermal power plants and generate local employment.

Currently, such projects are operational in 8 cities viz Kanpur, Agra, Muzaffarnagar, Rae Bareli, Kannauj, Aligarh, Moradabad and Allahabad. On December 13, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had feted the solid waste management project of Kanpur in New Delhi as the best model under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Rejuvenation Mission (JNNURM).

The Kanpur project fetched a cash award of Rs 3 lakh, citation and the JNNURM shield. While, eight urban centres, including Lucknow would implement solid waste management projects in January 2012, the remaining 7 cities/towns would witness their projects getting operational by March. In 2008, the state government had decided to start solid waste management projects in 23 towns under PPP.

It was estimated to entail total investment of Rs 754 crore, of which the private partners would invest Rs 343 crore, while the rest would be invested by the government. These remaining cities are Varanasi, Meerut, Mathura, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Mirzapur, Jaunpur, Sambhal, Etawah, Badaun, Fatehpur, Ballia, Mainpur and Barabanki. Under this model, solid waste would be collected from door-to-door. Once operational all over the state, about 8,000 tonnes of solid waste would be collected everyday and it would provide 11,000 employment opportunities. Earlier, the Delhi Mayor had also announced to adopt the Kanpur model, while representatives of Canada, Japan and Korea had also studied it for possible replication in their countries. In Kanpur, the project was launched with investment of Rs 56 crore for collection of 1,200 tonnes of waste per day.