Kozhikode: The city of Kozhikode is getting set to have a novel waste-to-energy plant at Njeliyanparamba. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the construction work for the plant here on Monday.
The chief minister expressed the hope that the waste dumping ground of the city in Njeliyanparamba would have a different picture once the plant is commisioned. As part of the combo project, the State will receive about 6 Megawatt of power from the 300 tonnes of waste treated there daily.
In a way, Kozhikode's will be a pioneer plant with a technologically advanced unit, and similar projects are in the pipeline for cities of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Thrissur, Malappuram and Kannur districts. The three-phased construction of the plant will be fully functional in 18 months. It will be built under the Design-Build-Finance-Operate-and Transfer (DBFOT) model with Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
The Kozhikode Corporation has handed over a land of 12.67 acres for the project to Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC).
Malabar Waste Management will manage the plant for 25 years. Only legacy waste will be used for bio-mining for now, but later additions will facilitate processing of wet waste too. Neighbouring municipalities like Feroke, Koyilandi and Ramanattukara and Olavanna will also benefit from the plant.
People's representatives and top officials of state government attended the work inauguration ceremony.