North Chennai Waste Privatisation Delayed After Urbaser Pulls Out from Race
Byline: None
Chennai: The Rs 2,300 crore project to privatise waste management in the Royapuram and Thiru Vi Ka Nagar zones is now stuck for nearly four months, more than a year from the day of the announcement.
The latest hindrance for the project is that solid waste management giant Urbaser, a Spanish firm that came as L1 in the tenders, pulled out from the race, officials said. Urbaser Company CEO Mahmood Sait said they pulled out from the race as the company is getting new international investors. "The new investors do not want to participate in the tenders at this moment," he said.
Now, GCC is negotiating with the second lowest bidder, Ramki Enviros, to match the lowest bid.
Ramki, which is handling the waste in the Thiruvottiyur, Manali, and Madhavaram zones, will handle the entire north Chennai, with the beaches from Thiruvottiyur to Marina. GCC Commissioner J Kumaragurubaran said they encashed the earnest money deposit. "We are negotiating with the second bidder. It will be finalised within this month," he told TOI.
Due to these delays, residents are daily grappling with poor quality service in these areas, which generate about 1,000 tonnes of waste daily. Permanent staff have been absent for weeks now in these zones. "The streets are filled with uncollected waste. The staff turn up only once a week. They are not working as it's a matter of time before they will be shifted to Anna Nagar or Ambattur zones managed by GCC," said R Avinash, a resident of Old Washermenpet.
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