CII task force suggests PPP model for urban waste management

A task force on waste management set up by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has prepared draft guidelines for solid waste management in the country.

It has suggested a public-private-partnership model for managing urban waste to access funds and improve efficiency.

The draft recommendations outline ways of tackling the challenges of managing the huge quantities of waste generated in the country's urban and rural areas, the Hindu Business Line reports.

The national task force on MSW management, constituted in 2008, initially drafted one set of guidelines, making states and civic bodies central to waste management.

Municipalities and other urban centres across the country on an average generate about 1,15,000 tonnes of solid waste daily, posing a big problem to administrators in disposing these without causing harm to the environment, Amit Gossain, chairman of the task force, said.

''Now, this is aimed at making it a national initiative. This will then be presented to the Union Urban Development Ministry. After seeking views and incorporating them, the final policy will be announced,'' he said.

The report quoted Gossain, executive vice president of construction equipment major JCB India, said urban population in the country is growing at 3-3.5 per cent a year while the solid waste generation is increasing at about 5 per cent annually.

The solid waste generated by cities with a population of one million and above varies from 1,200 tonnes per day (tpd) in cities like Ahmedabad or Pune to over 5,000-5,500 tpd in Delhi and Mumbai.

The urban development ministry had formulated a waste management scheme for class-I cities and towns, involving an estimated expenditure of nearly Rs2,500 crore. It had also sought funds allocation by the Twelfth Finance Commission to urban local bodies towards this.

As a part of the CII mission, JCB has broad-based the initiative by instituting national awards. Successful projects will be awarded, Gossain said.