While the closure of the Gorai dump is already in process through Indian firm United Phosphorus Ltd and Dutch firm Van Der Weil, the site operations will continue till December 2007. The closing of dumping grounds through the Public Private Partnership route is also the first of its kind sanctioned under the Centre’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

The Rs 476 crore for the project —- of which Rs 254 crore will be invested by private companies —- will also be used to partially shut the Mulund and Deonar dumps and construct a new landfill site at Kanjurmarg. At the 141-hectare site, waste will be processed and disposed of scientifically, and the BMC expects it to meet the city’s needs for at least two years. The Centre approved the first tranche of Rs 62.57 crore in November end.

The head of the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Rakesh Kumar, agrees that the plan is a smart move by the BMC. “Earning carbon credits is currently the ‘in-thing’ globally. India has a large number of projects which are sanctioned for carbon credits. Although the civic body’s project will not make much difference, it will surely help create awareness and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases locally,” he said.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Rajeev says their goal is the same. “More than the monetary part, we want to bring awareness about reducing greenhouse gas emissions and a psychological, environmental, physical change towards dumping grounds,” he says.Shweta Desai

MUMBAI, DECEMBER 10

As R K Pachauri received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in Oslo on Monday, there was good news on global warming from a most unlikely source back home: a 17-hectare dumping ground that has been taking a large part of Mumbai’s waste for the past 25 years.

... contd.