Kathmandu, September 5

The Kathmandu Metropolitan City has completed fitting the waste-to-energy plant in Teku after it imported the plant from Pune of Maharastra, India.

The plant arrived in Kathmandu one week ago on August in three separate heavy trucks that left Pune on July 26.

KMC said it completed fitting of all machinery parts of the plant today and starting constructing the surrounding wall for rotection of the plant. After constructing the wall, KMC will start the feeding process in which waste materials will be put in the plant in the preliminary stage, which will take 21 days.

After the preliminary stage, the system will consume three tonnes of solid waste per day, producing 14 kilowatts of electricity.

“After the preliminary stage of 21 days, we will be able to generate power from waste materials,” Rabin Man Shrestha, chief of the environment division of KMC and director for Promoting Integrated Sustainable Solid Waste Management Project told The Himalayan Times.

He said the five-member inspection committee was formed to observe the overall inspection work from feeding up to power generation process.

Spokesperson at KMC Gyanendra karki said to give positive message about the management of waste and producing the power, KMC is trying to invite the prime minister to inaugurate the waste-to-energy generation move.

KMC’s initiative is part of a one-year pilot project supported by the European Union.

According to the metropolitan city office, the three machines cost Rs 18.20 million. It has been said that the electricity generated from the plants will be used by the KMC office.

Besides this, the KMC is planning to replicate the project in other municipalities if the one-year pilot project succeeds. “Other municipalities have expressed their interest in the project, so the KMC is thinking of replicating the programme in other municipalities if the pilot project succeeds,” said KMC Spokesperson Karki. “With the generation of power from waste, waste management will also become easier.”

KMC hopes that the waste-to-energy project will make waste management in Kathmandu Valley easier. It said the project was just a preliminary effort to produce electricity from waste. Besides generating power, the KMC also plans to produce 96 kg gas, 300 kg bio-organic fertiliser, and 13,500 litres of purified water daily from the garbage collected at the Teku transfer station.

A total of 450 tonnes of garbage is produced in Kathmandu Valley every day. Nearly 63 per cent of the garbge is organic waste.

According to a study of Alternative Energy Promotion Centre, Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City, Bhaktapur Municipality, Madhyapur Thimi Municipality, Kirtipur Municipality and Kalimati fruits and vegetables market alone produce 331 tonnes urban waste every day.

KMC had been facing a tough time managing household waste due to lack of resources and technology. The project is expected to assist the KMC in tackling problems created by household waste.