More hands needed on deck for Brahmapuram plant.

The spadework for setting up the new waste treatment plant at Brahmapuram would throw up new challenges to the Kochi Corporation as it may have to rope in neighbouring local bodies to enter into an agreement with the selected firm for establishing the new plant.

The Kerala State Electricity Board and the Kochi Corporation also may have to sign an agreement regarding the purchase of power to be generated from the waste-to-energy plant proposed for Kochi. While the Board will pay the approved price, the local body will have to meet the cost of power in excess to the approved rate. The State government will support the local body for meeting the expense for purchase of power, said Dr. K. Vasuki, executive director of the Suchitwa Mission.

Responding to the discussions in the Kochi Corporation council meeting on the plant recently, Dr. Vasuki said that the obligations of each party to the contract will be detailed in the construction agreement of the project. Going by the general understanding, the firm selected for setting up the plant can penalise the local body for shortage of waste and the company can be held responsible for shortfall in power production, she said.

The Kochi Corporation may have to enter into an agreement with the firm regarding the delivery of waste at the plant site. It was earlier decided that the company which would win the bid would set up the plant at around Rs. 70 crore. The installed capacity of the new plant would be 300 tonnes a day.

Incidentally, an agenda note of the Kochi Corporation, which was passed amidst protest from the Opposition councillors, said that the State government should own up the responsibility of ensuring enough quantity of garbage exceeding the limit of the local body.

It has also suggested that the State government should ensure that no new plants would be set up in the neighbouring local bodies till the term of the Public-Private-Participation agreement expires.

The State government should bear the losses the company may face in future following the changes in the policies of the State and Central governments.

It also specified that the State government should own up any loss following the fall in power production. The liability of the local body that may arise in the sale of power will be limited to Rs. 2 per unit. The State government will have to meet the losses associated with power production, it said.


THE HINDU