GCC moves ahead with Keerapakkam WtE, Perungudi projects

The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) is set to receive bids for two major waste-management projects — a 2,400 tonnes-per-day (TPD) Waste-to-Energy facility at Keerapakkam and a 1,000 TPD waste-handling facility at Perungudi — by the end of this month.

A senior GCC official said the tenders were floated on March 6, and bidders were given nearly seven months to prepare their proposals. According to the tender schedule, bids are to be submitted by September 30 at 3 p.m., while the submitted bids are scheduled to be opened at 4 p.m. on October 1, leaving a 25-hour gap between the two stages.

According to the GCC, both projects were proposed under the Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) model on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis. The tender floated by the Corporation is for selecting a concessionaire to establish a 2,400 TPD municipal WtE facility, including a scientific landfill, at Keerapakkam for the Chennai-Tambaram-Avadi cluster. The facility is proposed to cater to the waste-management requirements of the three-city corporation cluster.

In the second tender, the GCC sought a concessionaire to set up a 1,000 TPD waste-handling facility at the Perungudi dumpsite, comprising a 700 TPD compost-processing facility. The project is also proposed under the DBFOT model.

While the Keerapakkam facility was planned as a large-scale WtE project for the Chennai-Tambaram-Avadi cluster, the Perungudi facility was intended to increase the waste-processing capacity at the existing dumpsite.