The introduction of the Swachh Bharat Mission in October 2014 has resulted in an increased focus on the cleanliness of streets and roads and the management of waste in India’s cities. The introduction of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, has also given a further push to waste management initiatives. Among the states, Haryana is a front runner and the state government has been working in tandem with the centre’s initiatives to improve the level of solid waste management (SWM).
At present, the state generates about 3,490 tonnes per day (tpd) of waste, of which only 25 per cent is processed, while the remaining is either littered or is lying in dump yards. To manage the piling waste, the government has proposed the execution of integrated SWM projects in 15 clusters across the state – Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonepat, Rohtak, Karnal, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Hissar, Rewari, Punhana, Bhiwani, Dabwali, Sirsa-Bhuna, Jind and Panchkula. In three clusters, waste-to-energy plants will be developed while in the other 12 clusters waste-to-compost plants will be executed.
All the plants will be developed on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis with integrated facilities for door-to-door collection, transportation, processing and disposal of municipal solid waste. A unique aspect of these projects is the output-based incentive that will be provided to the agency selected for project execution. Under this, the operator will collect garbage of high calorific value and will be paid for producing the maximum electricity. This payment will be part of a power purchase agreement.
Gurugram and Faridabad clusters
The Bandhwari landfill site has been lying defunct since July 2013 and heaps of waste from Faridabad and Gurugram is being piled up at the site. To process the waste, an integrated SWM facility has been proposed. The bids for the facility were invited in October 2016. Thereafter, in July 2017, the municipal corporations of Gurugram and Faridabad signed an MoU for its execution. Following this, in August 2017, a concession agreement was signed with Ecogreen Energy Private Limited for developing the project with a concession period of 22 years.
The project, expected to cost over Rs 4.3 billion, will be developed over 28 acres of the Bandhwari landfill site in the Aravalli hills, Gurugram. This municipal solid waste processing unit will comprise a biomethanation facility, a composting facility, a refuse-derived fuel (RDF) processing facility, a RDF-to-power plant, a flue gas treatment facility, a leachate treatment plant and a sanitary landfill. It is expected to treat over 1,250 tpd of waste from both regions, thereby generating about 10 MW of electricity. To expedite and simplify the process, residents are required to segregate waste at source into two separate bins, categorised as dry and wet waste.
In December 2017, the state government laid the foundation stones for 11 solid waste transfer stations in Gurugram. Another four transfer stations are to be added later. Work on the waste facility is currently under way and is expected to be completed by February 2019.
Sonepat cluster
Electricity, compost and biogas will be produced from a single SWM plant, which will process waste generated by the Sonepat, Panipat, Samalkha and Gannaur cities. The bids for developing the facility were invited in January 2017. Thereafter, in September 2017, a concession agreement was signed with JBM Environment Management Private Limited. The plant, worth Rs 1.76 billion, will treat 461 tpd of waste and produce 5 MW of electricity.
About 20 acres of land for the facility has already been provided by the state government at Murthal village in Sonepat. For its execution, the JBM Group has roped in Poland-based Ekolog. Two different technologies will be used in the plant. Electricity will be produced from organic waste material through the biomethanation process as well as from RDF. Besides electricity, the other end products produced post waste treatment will be recyclable materials and high quality agriculture fertiliser. Construction work for the plant is expected to commence soon.
Panchkula cluster
At present, the Panchkula Municipal Corporation has 80 garbage collection points in the district. The waste collected in Panchkula from these points is transported by tractor-trailers to the dumping ground. However, this proves to be a challenge as much of the waste remains at the dumping ground in Sector 23. In order to provide a solution, the state government has planned an integrated SWM project for the Panchkula and Naraingarh clusters. The bids for the plant, worth Rs 651 million, were invited in September 2017. For setting up the plant, the Panchkula Municipal Corporation has identified 13.23 acres land at Jhuriwala village. The plant will have the capacity to treat 200 tpd of waste.
As of January 2018, the operator is yet to be selected for the project. Meanwhile, door-to-door collection of waste has commenced and the distribution of blue and green collection bins has already been carried out in Sectors 4, 5, 6, 17 and 18. The rest of Panchkula city is also expected to be covered soon.
Other clusters
Meanwhile, bids for the Ambala, Karnal, Rewari and Bhuna-Fatehabad clusters were initially invited in September 2017. However, these bids were cancelled and were re-issued in January 2018. The last date of bid submission for these clusters is March 6, 2018.
With respect to the Bhiwani cluster, in January 2018, bids were invited to develop a waste-to-compost plant with a capacity of 154 tpd. However, this has been cancelled and no further update is available on the project. Bids for the remaining clusters (Rohtak, Yamunanagar, Hissar, Punhana, Dabwali and Jind) are yet to be invited.
The way forward
As Haryana moves forward with its objective of efficient SWM, the state has become the flag-bearer of the Swachh Bharat Mission. The completion of these integrated projects will result in the creation of sustainable urban infrastructure for the participating urban local bodies (ULBs). Meanwhile, these cluster-based SWM initiatives also act as an example for other states and ULBs to follow.
