CM inaugurates waste to energy plant

Imphal, Mar 23 (DIPR): Chief Minister N Biren virtually inaugurated a Waste to Energy Plant developed under MAHUD Department at Lamdeng at a formal function held at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat today.
The plant was developed on public-private partnership (PPP) model under a tripartite agreement signed amongst MAHUD, MSPDCL and Innovative Eco-Care Pvt Ltd. and Thermotech System Ltd (IEC-TSL).
Addressing the media, N Biren said that the project, which is the first of its kind in the world, was a long awaited project as solid waste management had been one of the major environmental concerns in the State.
He congratulated the department concerned and company officials for making the key project functional and also expressed thankfulness to the locals of Lamdeng for giving cooperation towards completion of the project. He further said the problem of disposing solid waste would be eased a little as the project would consume 100 tonnes of solid waste daily.
The Chief Minister appealed to the people of the State not to throw garbage and waste in rivers and ponds but use dustbins installed in their localities so that the wastes could be collected by the authorities concerned.
He also informed that the Government had been taking care of the localities near the project like constructing proper fencing to prevent them from any possible harmful effect.
The Chief Minister further informed that the Institute of Bioresources & Sustainable Development had tested and scientifically proved that the phumdi biomass of Loktak Lake could produce ethanol oil.  The State Government had also informed Union Minister Nitin Gadkari about the matter and the latter had responded that the Praj Industries Ltd in Pune could guide in going ahead with the plan to produce ethanol oil from Phumdi biomass. This would be helpful in generating substantial revenue for the State, he added.
Expressing concern on the scarcity of tap water supply in many areas of greater Imphal due to significant drop in the water level of Singda, he appealed to the locals of Kangchup and Singda to refrain from cutting down trees which had caused depletion of water level. He sought cooperation and support from the local people in planting more trees and also preserving the existing plantation around the area for a better future.
The function was attended by Chief Secretary Dr Rajesh Kumar, Principal Secretary PK Singh, Director, MAHUD Th Harikumar and other Government and company Officials, among others.
It may be mentioned that the Waste to Energy Project was designed to enable conversion of waste to energy and reduce significantly the quantity of waste going to the landfill. The plant which is developed at an estimated cost of around Rs 29.5 crore will have a capacity of 1 Megawatt-hour in the first phase and would be increased to 2 Megawatt-hour in the second phase.