Staff Reporter
Panaji
Stating that all the processes required for setting up of garbage treatment plant at Bainguinim in Old Goa have been completed, Minister for Waste Management Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate on Wednesday said a fresh tender for the same will be floated soon.
“Plant work shall start before August 2025,” Monserrate said and added that the garbage treatment plant will benefit the entire Tiswadi taluka.
Soon after the announcement was made by Monserrate, BJP MLA from Cumbarjua Rajesh Faldessai challenged the minister to start work on the plant in his current tenure.
Monseratte told media that the process for floating a revised tender for setting up of the Bainguinim garbage treatment plant has been completed following the clearance granted by the Supreme Court. The minister also claimed that there is no single issue as far as the Sonsodo dump yard is concerned.
Stating that he will not allow Monserrate to start work on the Bainguinim garbage treatment plant, Faldessai said, “There are residential complexes, a muth, hospital and schools where the site for setting up of the garbage treatment plant has been identified. The plant will be harmful to the people and hence, I strongly oppose it.”
The government had proposed an integrated solid waste management facility with a capacity of 100 TPD at Bainguinim.
The facility was proposed to cater to the central zone of Goa that is Tiswadi and the neighbouring taluka. This was done to handle the increasing waste generated in the talukas of Tiswadi and Ponda due to the rapid urbanisation and development.
The departments of Science and Technology and Waste Management have already notified 1.7 lakh square metres of land for setting up the project.
Council of Scientific & Industrial Research-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI), Nagpur has carried out the Rapid Environmental Impact Assessment for the project and in accordance with Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the detailed project report for the same was readied.
Public hearing for the facility at Bainguinim was conducted on July 28, 2019 and Environmental Clearance (EC) was granted for the project by Goa State Environment Impact Assessment Authority on January 6, 2020.
