HYDERABAD: The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has given its assent for the setting up of a second waste-to-energy plant at Jawaharnagar with a 28 megawatt (MW) capacity, said MAUD Minister KT Rama Rao, on Monday, while flagging off 1,350 Swachh Auto Tippers (SATs) in Sanathnagar.
A 19.80 MW waste-to-energy plant is already operational at Jawaharnagar. The Minister said that once the second proposed plant is operational, Hyderabad will generate around 48 MW of power from waste, making it the city with the highest capacity of waste-to-energy plants. Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited (REEL) will set up the 28 MW plant at a cost of Rs 650 crore. The primary objective of the two plants is not to only produce electricity, but also to scientifically dispose of municipal waste.
These plants are a substitute for fossil fuels plants with less dependence on coal, oil or natural gas for generating electricity. The State government is introducing the SATs as part of the ‘Swachh Hyderabad, Swach Telangana’ initiative. The Minister hailed the services of sanitation workers for making the city look neat and clean. The government has recognised their services and increased the salaries of sanitation workers at least three times, Rama Rao added. He also hoped that better sanitation standards across the city and State will be achieved with the addition of 1,350 SATs. The SATs can carry 1.5 metric tonnes of waste.
Earlier, a total of 4,500 SAT vehicles were provided by the GHMC under driver- cum-owner scheme. In addition to the GHMC SATs, 750 private autos are working in solid waste collection, making it a total of 5,250 SATs working for door-to-door collection of solid waste in the city. Ministers Mahmood Ali, Talasani Srinivas Yadav, Hyderabad Mayor Gadwal Vijayalaxmi and GHMC Commissioner DS Lokesh Kumar were also present.