House of Representatives meeting: August 22. Amid garbage problems, Mohali MC presents agenda for compressed biogas plant.

The proposed biogas plant will help alleviate Mohali's garbage problems by converting wet waste from six urban municipalities – Mohali, Banur, Zirakpur, Dera Bassi, Lalru and Nayagaon – into compressed biogas that can be used as fuel in vehicles.

Since June this year, Mohali has been reeling under a waste management crisis as the Phase 8-B landfill was closed following a Supreme Court verdict, leaving the city's 14 Resource Management Centres (RMCs) overflowing with waste, prompting the civic body to stop garbage collection in GMADA areas.

For years, the RMCs have been handling over 150 tonnes of waste daily – a significant portion of which comes from GMADA areas. While the majority of the waste was processed, some of it was disposed of at the Phase 8-B site, resulting in an accumulation of around 250,000 cubic metres of legacy waste. As per the HC orders, the 8-B site is now used only for bioremediation of legacy waste.

A Panchkula-based contractor has been temporarily hired to process the waste collected in the 14 RMCs. Both MC and GMADA are paying about ₹1,090 per tonne to the private contractor.

GAIL and HPCL show interest

While the Samgauli biogas project initially failed to attract any bidders, the local authority is now confident after representatives of the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) visited the site last week and expressed interest.

The company that wins the contract will purchase the plant at a price of around ₹27 Crore in 15 months and a 20-year operation with a yet to be determined royalty being paid to MC.

“We are yet to decide on the royalty percentage as it will depend on the profit the company makes after launching the project,” said a senior MC official.

Project in limbo for 10 years

The project has been in limbo for the last decade. The Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) had allotted the 39-hectare land in Samgauli to the MC for waste management in 2013, but the MC did not use it.

Agenda for advertisement tender also follows

An agenda for preparing a fresh proposal for awarding tender is also likely to be tabled. Despite five attempts, Mohali MC failed to find bidders, leading to a major uproar in the last Parliament session.

MC has now divided the 320 advertising locations in the city into different categories and six separate tenders will be carried out.

The tender amount was also reduced from ₹31 crore to ₹28 Crores.

While 198 locations, including unipoles, portals and billboards, will be divided into four zones that will be available for ₹26 Crore, another category was created for 33 bus stands and a sixth category for 89 toilet blocks across the city. Originally there were 339 sites but 19 have been removed by MC as GMADA is widening roads in phases 8 to 11. Other proposals include a demand for police officers at MC and transfers and postings of staff.

Crate:

Waste problem:

Daily waste generation: 100 tonnes (MT)

Wet waste: 40 tons

Mixed waste: 60 tons

Almost 100% of the waste generated daily is processed. While dry waste, including plastic, is recycled, wet waste is processed into compost.

Areas covered: Phase 1 to Phase 11, Sectors 65 to 80 and Sector 48-C, which fall under the MC boundaries

Aerocity, IT City, Wave Estate, TDI, GILCO, Sectors 88, 89, 90, 91, 104 and 105 and Balongi which come under GMADA

Contaminated sites: 250,000 cubic metres

The legacy pollution has dragged Mohali down the Swachh Survekshan rankings. Although the city was able to gain 31 places in the 2023 ranking and now ranks 82nd among 446 cities with over 100,000 inhabitants, the legacy pollution remains a stain.