NHAI to use Ghazipur solid waste in expressway construction

Solid waste from the Ghazipur landfill site in East Delhi would be used in the construction of Delhi-Meerut Expressway, a section of NH-24, in a move aimed at curbing pollution in the city.

The standing committee of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation on Wednesday approved the proposal that would pave the way for EDMC’s collaboration with National Highway Authority of India and the ministry of urban development on this project.

The move comes after a study was conducted by the CSIR-Central Road Research Institute. The institute submitted its report to NHAI a couple of months back and said that the municipal solid waste contains about 65 to 70 per cent of soil components which can be used in embankment construction after segregation. Following which the matter was placed before the standing committee for approval. “NHAI and urban development ministry had sought permission for utilisation of MSW for highway construction programme on NH-24 earlier. This will be in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s directions for use of waste in a productive way. As the proposal got passed, the Corporation has been empowered to sign a MoU and once it would be inked, the highway authority will be allowed to use the material for the purpose,” said Jitender Chaudhary, chairman, standing committee.

The EDMC officials inform that the landfill site, spread over 30-acre land, got saturated earlier in 2004, but dumping of garbage is still taking place.

Ignoring the actual capacity of the city, the EDMC dumps nearly 2,500 metric tonne garbage daily. Since the site has stored enormous volume of garbage, its disposal and reclamation of land has become difficult.

“As the EDMC area generates thousands of metric tonnes of waste daily, its proper disposal has been a challenging task. If things go well, the NHAI will set up a plant near the site and will segregate the solid waste. Through segregation, nearly 70 per cent solid waste will be extracted as road filler while remaining will be used as raw material for waste-to-energy plant. Since proposal has been made by the NHAI, entire cost for setting up of plant and transportation of the produced material will be borne by the NHAI itself,” said a senior EDMC official.