VISAKHAPATNAM: CONSTRUCTION and demolition waste recycling plant will come up in Visakhapatnam, said Pravin Kumar, the commissioner of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC). He said that currently the project was at request for proposal (RFP) stage.
At a news conference here on Wednesday, Pravin Kumar said that with the increase in construction and demolition debris, there is an obvious need for the plant. As soon as the GVMC finds a developer, they would allot five acre land at Arilova, said Pravin. He also added that the developer would just handle the process and the GVMC would take the responsibility to transport debris to the plant daily by separate vehicles at major wards.
Control & command centre
The commissioner also said that a separate “control and command centre” will be opened by the GVMC very soon at a cost of `140 crore, part of the Smart City plan, where all the departments of the GVMC and other important ones will be integrated. All the services of the GVMC will be integrated in the command centre, but initially departments like pollution control board, disaster management board, EPDCL, revenue and fire will be integrated, while others will also added in phases.
The commissioner also said that on June 25, eight or nine projects of the Smart City like housing for all and 100 per cent service connections will be grounded. “On June 25 last year Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that Vizag had been selected under the Smart City project and on the same day this year, some projects will be grounded. We would invite Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and other ministers,” he said. Pravin also recalled that the SPB had already been formed with district collector N Yuvaraj as chairman and the police commissioner and the VUDA VC as members.
GVMC app for grievances
Pravin Kumar also said that they had made several changes in the GVMC official app to air grievances. He said that the app would have a new option called “Request for services”, in which there is “complaints” option to receive complaints of any type from the public, be it drainage, dogs and civic issues. “People could lodge a complaint by simply taking a picture of it and tagging the location. We have a separate team in the cell to handle the services,” he said. Pravin also said that people could also find out the status of their complaints.
Desiltation works completed
The GVMC commissioner said the desiltation works had gained pace in the city to avoid flooding of low-lying areas and drains during the monsoon season. He said that they had completed the desiltation work in 70 per cent of the areas and at some of the areas the desiltation should be done again due to the recent rains.