NEW DELHI: During his visit to the Okhla waste-to-energy plant on Thursday, lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena directed civic officials to take steps immediately for increasing its pending capacity to fully utilise legacy waste and free the city of the garbage menace on a long-term basis.
The plant currently produces 23MW of electricity by consuming 1,950MT solid waste. Saxena directed officials to increase the garbage consumption by 1,000MT, which would also result in an additional 17MW power production. “This will take care of processing the entire 3,000MT of garbage being generated daily in the erstwhile south corporation,” stated the LG’s office.
Corporation officials informed Saxena that increasing power production would require installation of an additional boiler, work for which had been pending as the mandatory public hearing hadn’t taken place yet. Saxena asked them to expedite the process and remove all hurdles, the statement added.
“It was emphasised that increasing the consumption of garbage from the Okhla landfill would not only benefit a large population living in south Delhi, but also ensure that fresh garbage is not added to the existing mound in Okhla,” the LG’s office stated.
During Saxena’s Ghazipur landfill visit on Sunday, the concessionaire assured to make its waste-to-energy plant operational by June 15. “The plant has the capacity to consume 1,200-1,400 tonne waste per day, but isn’t operational for over six months. As a result, the majority of fresh waste is being dumped at the landfill,” said an official.
The lieutenant governor also directed officials to complete the Tehkhand plant in south Delhi by August. The deadline to commission the plant was October. “The plant will generate another 25MW electricity by using nearly 2,000MT of residual derives fuel, in addition to 500MT construction and demolition waste,” said the official.
