Waste-to-energy project in trouble as BBMP defaults on paying its share

Bengaluru: An ambitious project to generate 11.5 kw electricity from waste, launched in October 2020, at a cost of Rs 260 crore at Bidadi, has run into trouble as the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has failed to give its share of funds for fourth month in succession. The Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) has taken up the project and BBMP and KPCL have agreed to bear the expenditure equally. However, the BBMP is not paying its share regularly which threatens to delay the project.

The goal is to complete the waste-to-energy project by the end of the year. KPCL and BBMP have to pay their respective share in accordance with the progress of the project.

An initial amount of Rs 10 crore each was paid by both the organisations and received a Utilization Certificate. In the second phase, while KPCL released its share of Rs 30 crore, BBMP fell behind in keeping its commitment. KPCL is said to have written three times reminding the civic body of its obligation. Curiously, the civic body which had received a grant of Rs 1,000 crore from the State government a month ago has not thought of paying from this huge amount its share to the power corporation in spite of the fact that such default would derail the project.

Under this project non-recyclable waste (RDF) will be burnt to generate electricity. About 600 tonnes of city waste will supplied to the project to produce 11.5 MW of electricity to meet the demand of the city. On its part, KPCL aims to complete the project by March 2023. Currently 35 to 40 per cent of work is completed and Rs 35-Rs 40 crore has been spent by the corporation. A KPCL official has revealed that the corporation has borrowed from a bank to fund its share.

Since both are government agencies they are bogged down by an indifferent attitude to spend funds on a priority basis. Another reason for delay in releasing funds to the waste-to-energy project is the seniority basis system followed by government bodies, an official said.

"We have written three times to BBMP to release its share of funds and we have even appealed to the Chief Commissioner and Special Commissioner in this regard. However, we see no difficulty in completing the project on time," said VP Ponnuraj, Managing Director of KPCL.

"A letter has been written by KPCL to BBMP seeking funds. It is not currently known how much has been asked for. Money will be released based on the priority," BBMP Special Commissioner (Finance) Tulsi Maddineni said and added this (delay in fund release) would not be an obstacle to the progress of the project.

Electricity for 35,000 households

This power plant which is under construction in the Atmanirbhar Bharat project can meet the power demand of an Assembly constituency with 35,000 households. It generates about 11.5 MW of electricity from 600 tonnes of garbage.

Annual saving of Rs 14 crore

The city generates 4,000-4,500 tonnes of waste per day. Of this, 60% is dry and 40% is wet. Supply of 600 tonnes of power to the power plant will save the company about Rs 14 crore per annum, said an official of the Bengaluru Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) Ltd.