MARGAO, JAN 3
Hazard a guess when exactly the waste treatment plant at Sonsodo would finally become a reality.
Well, Fomento has initially planned to set up the plant and machinery at the dumping site by March 31, 2011. But, inordinate delay to ink the concession agreement between Fomento and the Margao Municipal Council will now push the deadline by a couple of months.
If Fomento Green Chief Executive Officer, Sridhar Kamat is to be believed, he would require minimum six months to put in place the plant and machinery to treat waste at the site. This means if the civic body and Fomento finally ink the agreement in January, the plant and machinery at Sonsodo will finally become a reality around June.
But, Sridhar said that all out efforts would be made by the company to ensure that the plant and machinery is ready at the site before the onset of monsoons. “The task of setting up the plant is not easy. The entire area at the dumping site will be covered with a shed. This will definitely consume time”, Kamat said, but hastened to add that all out efforts would be made to ensure the plant and shed takes shape at Sonsodo before the onset of monsoons.
Fomento had moved in at Sonsodo before the onset of monsoons and had to carry out covering of the dump yard with tarpaulin to prevent leachate water from flowing into the water nullah. The entire work was put in place by spending a few lakh of rupees.
Kamat said the draft concession agreement will be returned back to the Margao civic body in a day or two with minor changes in the draft. “There are no major changes, but only minor corrections here and there”, he said.
Sources in the civic body said the draft concession agreement will be studied again before the same is placed before the Council for ratification by the city fathers.
A section of the city fathers in private say that the Chief Officer Prasanna Acharya should invite the municipal legal counsel involved in clearing the draft for the Council meeting and explain the legal aspects of the concession agreement. “Most of the city fathers are lay people without legal backgrounds. The presence of legal counsels will help clarify many a question on the concession agreement, specially the controversial Net Present Value which may force the civic body to pay Rs 12-odd crore to Fomento over a period of 25 years”, remarked a city father.
