Jaypee Group to invest Rs 20 cr

The Jaypee group will provide environment-friendly solutions for the treatment of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Chandigarh, with a capital investment of Rs 20 crore. This is part of the public-private initiatives of the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh.

The plant for processing municipal solid waste will come up in Dadu-Majra, according to Rajiv Gaur, president of the Jaypee group. "The Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh has given 10 acres of land for the installation of the plant, to be done in a time-bound manner.

It will be commissioned within 12 months, for which the Andhra Pradesh Technology Development and Promotion Centre (APTDC), promoted by the Confederation of Indian Industry, has been retained as technology consultant," said Gaur

The city, on average, produces, 350 metric tonnes of garbage. The proposed project will have the capacity to process approximately 600 tonnes of garbage daily.

Giving details of the project, Gaur said, "The plant is being set up for processing the city's garbage and converting it into useful non-conventional fuel, proposed to be used in captive thermal power plants and also as an alternative fuel for cement manufacturing facilities of the Jaypee group."

The state-of-the-art European technology, customised for Indian municipal solid waste (of high moisture content and varying calorific value), involves converting waste into densely packed fluff/pallets, free of harmful by-products and effluents.

The Jaypee group, a Rs 3,500-crore industrial conglomerate, has taken up this project on a build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis.

The group has a rich presence in the infrastructure, hydro power, cement, education and hospitality sectors, and has embarked on environmental-friendly projects as part of its objectives of corporate social responsibility.

According to Gaur, the proposed technology has been successfully implemented in many cities of Europe, where governments are subsidising installations of such plants since disposals of municipal solid waste are not allowed in the open, because of environmental hazards.