Mumbai News: Waste-To-Energy Plant At Deonar Dumping Ground Nears Completion, Set To Process 600 Tonnes Of Waste Daily

The much-anticipated Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plant at Mumbai’s Deonar dumping ground has entered its final phase of setup. Speaking at a private event organised by an NGO in Dadar on Tuesday evening, Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani confirmed that the facility is expected to be commissioned within the next three months. Once operational, this plant will process 600 metric tonnes of municipal solid waste per day, converting it into approximately 4 megawatts of electricity.

Mumbai currently generates approximately 7,000 metric tonnes of waste every day — an amount comparable in volume to a three-storey building. The Gorai and Mulund landfills have been scientifically closed as part of sustainable waste management efforts. The 311 acres Deonar dumping ground, which has been operational since 1927, is already burdened with towering heaps of accumulated waste. Currently, Kanjur Marg remains the city's only active landfill, where the Mumbai’s daily waste is being deposited. 

"The WTE plant at Deonar will become operational within the next three months. We are also planning to initiate another WTE project at the Kanjur Marg landfill,” said Gagrani. Although the Deonar landfill is owned by the state revenue department, it remains under the operational control of the BMC. In October last year, the civic body handed over 124 acres of this land to the state government to facilitate housing development under the Dharavi Redevelopment Project. The WTE plant at Deonar is considered vital in tackling the massive backlog of nearly 20 million (two crore) metric tonnes of legacy waste that has accumulated at the site over decades.

The BMC's WTE initiative at Deonar faced a significant setback when it failed to attract bidders for processing 3,000 metric tonnes of waste per day. The project experienced substantial delays, taking nearly six years to commence construction, which finally began in June 2022. The contract for the WTE plant with capacity of 600 metric ton was awarded to M/s Chennai MSW Pvt. Ltd. at a cost of Rs. 648 crore. The project includes a design and build period of 40 months, followed by an operation and maintenance phase of 15 years. However, in a special audit report released last year, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) sharply criticised the BMC for poor project monitoring and prolonged delays in securing mandatory environmental and regulatory clearances required to set up the plant.