Date:03/06/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/03/stories/2008060352650300.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Civic bodies told to suggest ways to dispose of solid waste

Staff Reporter

Two corporations to be covered in first phase

Kakinada: The district administration is exploring the possibility of obtaining financial assistance under projects like Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for better solid waste management and disposal in municipalities. For this purpose, District Collector Gopalakrishna Dwivedi instructed the commissioners of Kakinada and Rajahmundry municipal corporations and Tuni, Pithapuram, Peddapuram, Samalkot, Ramachandrapuram, Mandapeta and Amalapuram municipalities to suggest ways of properly handling and disposing of solid waste being generated in the respective cities and towns.

The two municipal corporations will be covered in the initial phase so as to replicate the project in smaller towns depending upon the feasibility and response from contractors who might be interested in implementing the project in the PPP (public, private partnership) mode.

Study

The civic authorities were asked to study the methods in which solid waste management projects are being successfully implemented in cities like Visakhapatnam to draw lessons that could make the cities and towns in East Godavari district cleaner.

The Collector has also ordered that the solid waste generated in all municipalities, be permanently disposed of in a single landfill site measuring about 25 acres between Kakinada and Rajahmundry in order to avoid littering of several places in the district. The services of private consulting firms could be availed of to follow the best practices in disposing of waste which shall be segregated into bio-degradable and non bio-degradable. These measures are expected to improve the sanitary conditions in Kakinada and Rajahmundry.