KOCHI: Former mayor Tony Chammany has sought a CBI investigation into Zonta Infratech Private Ltd’s involvement in Kerala’s waste-to-energy plant projects tendered by Kerala State Industries Development Corporation (KSIDC) in eight local bodies across the state, including Brahmapuram in Kochi. Chammany said that the tender clause was revised by KSIDC to favour Zonta.
“To set up a waste-to-energy (WtE) plant, certain clauses were introduced to award the project to a suitable bidder through a tender procedure. As per the government order issued in June 2018, the bidder offering the lowest tariff for the power generated from the processed waste will be allowed to set up the plant on a site to be provided by the government,” said Tony Chammany.
“However, in November 2018, another government order was issued. It stated that the government has decided to revise the project structure and to bring in corresponding revisions to the relevant clauses of the request for proposal (RFP) document. Accordingly, KSIDC prepared a revised project structure based on the feedback received from several prospective bidders, including Zonta. This revision of clauses was made only to favour Zonta Infratech,” Tony Chammany said. He further alleged that tipping fee was included in the clause. “For collecting 500 tonnes of waste, the company will receive Rs 5 lakh as tipping fee per day, Rs 3.5 crore per month, and Rs 18 crore per year, which is a huge profit for the company,” he said.
He also said that, from the beginning, Zonta got all support from higher officials. “The representatives of Zonta met former chief secretary Tom Jose and CM regarding the WtE project, which is revealed in the voice clips of Dennis Eapen, director of Zonta,” said Tony Chammany.
“The CM was informed about the intermediary. Instead of ending the deal, he asked to remove them and assured the officials that the WtE plant would be set up,” Chammany said. “It is clear that there is a huge corruption behind Kerala’s WtE plant projects. I was told that Rs 50 crore bribe was given to establish the WtE plant. This can only be unravelled through a CBI investigation,” he said.