KOCHI: Though Kochi is among 73 clean cities in the country, prepared by a recent Swachh Bharat Mission survey, the city streets are still bogged down by mounds of garbage.
The signing of an agreement for construction of a mega waste-to-energy plant at Brahmapuram with a capacity to treat 300 tonnes of waste per day has come as a major relief for the civic authorities as it could permanently resolve the problem.
The ranking had upset the municipal administration, as the city has nosedived from the prestigious fourth position in the cleanliness index to the 55th.
However, a section of experts questions the feasibility of the waste-to-energy concept, which they say succeeded nowhere in the country.
"The concept is yet to be proved successful. Even other states don't have a successful model and the only feasible model demonstrated by the consultant KITCO was the plant in Pune, which also lacked factual evidence," said an expert.
According to Dr C.M. Joy, a green expert, instead of experimenting with a risky project, the civic body could have invited companies to run a successful plant based on proven technology after which it can be taken over.
"Before finalising the proposal, no consultation has been made with experts on the feasibility of the technology. There are also doubts whether the civic body will be able to ensure 300 tonnes of garbage per day. The project will end up in wasting an enormous amount of public money," he said.
They say the unrealistic conditions such as paying a fine for not supplying required tonnage of waste would have an impact on the corporation's exchequer.
