Earlier this week, the civic body had outlined plans to re-model the existing Deonar dumping ground at a cost of about Rs 5,506 crore. Additional Municipal Commissioner R A Rajeev, clarifying how this sum is to be spent, said: “The sum is a projection of costs over 25 years. The figure we have arrived at has been taken after considering various factors like inflation, increasing costs and other issues, this is certainly not the immediate cost of the project.”

The Deonar solid waste management project will be implemented in three stages: The first will be a partial closure of the dumping site, set to cost around Rs 170 crore, the second will be the development of infrastructure at a cost of Rs 62 crore. A sum of Rs 1,010 crore will be spent as tipping fees for processing the 2,000 metric tones of garbage daily, over a period of 25 years.

The planned sanitary landfill and scientific garbage processing plant at Deonar, following partial closure of the existing facility, is set to ease the additional burden it has been shouldering since the closure of the Gorai dump that is currently underway.

The proposal for the Deonar solid waste management project has been sent to the civic Standing Committee for its approval and is expected to be discussed this week.

The 71-year-old dumping ground is set to earn for the BMC a huge amount of carbon credits following its partial closure, apart from also generating electricity, in a project sanctioned under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

A consortium of United Phosphorus Ltd, Kerala-based POABS and Germany-based MDSE has been awarded the contract for the closure of the dumping ground. The contractor will be responsible for operation and maintenance of the site for the next 25 years