BMC is the first to get India Tech excellence award

The BMC has received India Tech Excellence award for closing its 19.6 hectare Gorai dumping ground in a scientific manner. BMC is the first civic body in country that has encashed carbon credit reducing greenhouse gas emission and earned Rs24.50 crore.

India Tech Excellence award is given by the central government for innovative work in urban development sector. The award was given by president Pratibha Patil. “We are really happy that our work has been endorsed by this prestigious award. We feel very proud. BMC is first civic body that has earned Rs24.50 crore by tapping methane before it goes in to the environment. We have to keep doing it for at least ten years. We are hoping to earn almost Rs80 crore from this entire process,” said Bhalchandra Patil, chief engineer of BMC’s solid waste management.

The civic body is gearing up to encash another cheque worth of Rs25 crore in the next two years. “The second cheque may get delayed because we are not matching our target. Other city corporations have contacted us to follow a similar procedures at their dumping grounds,” Patil added. The civic body has spent Rs49 crore to set up this project and spends approximately Rs 80 lakh every year on maintenance.

The project was registered with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (popularly known as Kyoto Protocol) in February 2010. Its international validation was carried out by DNV. The carbon credits were sold in a future trading arrangement to the Asian Development Bank, with which the corporation signed an Emission Reduction Purchase Agreement in 2008.

According to senior civic officials, the Gorai dump is currently ‘flaring’ 300 to 400 cubic metres of methane gas, one of the most dangerous of the green-house gases, every hour. BMC is looking at various options to not burn the gas, but instead use it to generate energy.