By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The State Government has decided to seek additional fund from the Centre to integrate waste to energy project in the sanitary landfill site at Marten, Mawiong.
“If the proposal of the State Government is approved, the State, which is going through a severe power crisis, can benefit a lot since the integration project would help in generating at least 4 megawatts of power,” Urban Affairs Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh told The Shillong Times here on Friday.
“The power grid from the project will be converged with the MeECL grid,” she said.
The construction of the sanitary landfill site at Marten, Mawiong, which has been bogged by controversies and opposition from local residents, finally started earlier this year. The construction of the sanitary landfill is expected to be completed within eighteen months.
According to Lyngdoh, the tree felling process has begun and earth cutting for the landfill site would begin next week.The life span for the landfill site is four years, while the land identification process for additional landfill site has already begun.The Rs 3.07 crore project, approved under the North East Regional Capital Cities Development Investment Programme (NERCCDIP), received the go ahead from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests on November 21 last year.It may be mentioned that the project had hit a stumbling block after local residents demanded shifting of the dumping ground since the State Government had planned to construct an abattoir (slaughter house) in the vicinity.
Lyngdoh said there was no more opposition to the project from any quarters. The project will cover an area of 6500 square metres and it has been designed to meet the standards of Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2000.