An exclusive bio-medical waste treatment plant to handle hospital waste in the Mumbai city region is coming up at Sewri near GT Hospital shortly. The Rs 6 crore project being set up by EA Infrastructure Ltd, a joint venture between Environmental Monitoring Services and the Canada-based Anderson Operation Inc., is expected to be commissioned by July this year. EAIL is currently into environmental infrastructure and services business.

As per the agreement signed between BMC and EAIL, the Corporation will supply five tonnes of biomedical wastes daily to EAIL for treatment for the next 10 years. The BMC will also be responsible for the discharge of the treated waste. The Corporation has agreed to pay Rs 10.5 per kg for the treatment.

According to informed sources, currently almost 80 per cent work of the treatment plant is complete and it will be ready functioning by mid July. The plant will have an incinerator and an autoclave to handle these wastes as per the provisions of Environment (Protection) Act, 1998.

"Around 30 per cent (1500 kgs) of bio-medical waste will be treated in the incinerator while the rest 70 per cent (3500 kgs) in the autoclave,'' said the source in BMC. He added that BMC would monitor the plant from time to time to detect if there is any violation of the prescribed Act with respect to emission of toxic gases during incineration.

The source added that with the state government becoming more conscious of environment related issues, the municipalities, public bodies and even the private sector institutions are opting to engage specialist agencies for providing the services.

Also a significant advantage of engaging such agencies is that smaller municipalities and public utilities financially constrained to purchase required equipment are now able to avail of such services without incurring heavy front end investment costs he added.

The BMC generates about four tonnes of medical waste from 17 of its managed hospitals within the city jurisdiction. These are KEM, Nair Hospital, Bhagwati Hospital, Cooper Hospital, Dental Hospital, GTB, Sion Hospital, ENT Hospital, MA Hospital, Bhabha Hospital at Kurla and Bandra, Rajawadi Hospital, Dr Bhagekar Hospital, Kasturba Hospital, Khar TB Hospital and Muncipal Eye Hospital.

EAIL is also in talks with municipal corporations of Jaipur (JMC), Thane (TMC) and Chennai State government for setting up a centralised BMW treatment plant there. EAIL is a joint venture between Environmental Monitoring Services and Canada based Anderson Operation Inc with an equity sharing of 77 per cent and 23 per cent respectively. IPWT 's environmental services include comprehensive operation and maintenance of drainage maintenance equipment, solid waste handling equipment, sewage and water pumping stations, common effluent treatment plants, hazardous waste facilities.