Addressing a press conference HUDCO Chairman and Managing Director V Suresh hoped that the integrated solid waste management scheme would go a long away to help the local body to cope with the large tourist population and keep the city clean.

Under the scheme the city will be provided hydraulic transport vehicles like dumper placers, separate community bins for slum areas, containerised handcarts, motorised three-wheelers for narrow lanes.

The entire system is geared towards eliminating manual handling of waste and overall improvement of public health. A unique aspect of the project is that infectious hospital waste would be segregated at the generation point itself.

Separate hospital waste collection vans and common treatment system in the form of incinerators has been provided for the city. Theproblem of treatment and disposal of domestic waste is proposed to be addressed in the second phase of the project by considering disposal options like composting and sanitary land-filling.

HUDCO has also already sanctioned six solid waste management projects for a total loan assistance of Rs 2216.92 lakh at Panaji (Goa), Rajkot (Gujrat), Hyderabad and Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh), Cochin and Calicut (Kerala).