NEW DELHI: Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is gearing up to initiate the second phase of its landfill biomining project with the goal of addressing the enormous waste build-up in the city's three primary dumpsites.
Biomining is the scientific process of excavation, treatment, segregation and gainful utilisation of aged municipal solid waste lying in dumpsites typically referred to as legacy waste.
On Tuesday, the municipal body invited three separate bids for the biomining project that aims to remove a significant quantity of legacy waste from the Ghazipur, Bhalswa and Okhla landfills.
In this phase, MCD intends to biomine 30 lakh tonnes of waste each from the Ghazipur and Bhalswa landfills, while the Okhla site will undergo the removal of 20 lakh tonnes.
An official said: “We have given specifications as well as experience that has to be fulfilled by the applicants. Once the agency is identified for implementing bio remediation and the biomining task at each of these landfills, we will place the proposal before the standing committee for finalising the rate."
The official added: "However, this is not the first time we have attempted to get new concessionaires for phase II of the biomining work. Due to non-formation of the standing committee, we couldn't get the nod for agencies within the deadline of six months. Thus, a fresh attempt has been made now."
MCD started the first phase of biomining at three locations in 2019, following a directive by National Green Tribunal (NGT).
In Nov 2022, the corporation initially allocated a tender for processing 90 lakh tonnes of legacy waste — 30 lakh tonnes at each of the three landfills — setting May 2024 as the deadline.
But the civic body reported that its progress at the Okhla and Ghazipur landfills had been slower than expected. According to an official, "Till date, only 26 lakh tonnes of biomining has been done at Okhla and 12 lakh MT at Ghazipur in comparison to the target of 30 lakh MT given to each landfill. In comparison, at Bhalswa landfill the concessionaire has successfully completed biomining of 43 lakh MT legacy waste (30 lakh MT plus an additional target of 13 lakh MT under provisional extension)."
Initially, MCD had set deadlines for flattening the landfills — December 2023 for Okhla, March 2024 for Bhalswa and December 2024 for Ghazipur.
However, due to the slow progress of biomining, the civic body has been forced to extend the deadlines. The new ones for flattening the landfills are Dec 2024 for Okhla, 2025 for Bhalswa, and 2026 for Ghazipur.
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