Kathmandu, December 19
The Nepal government is preparing to assign a private firm to manage solid waste from Kathmandu city and produce fuel.
Electricity, methane gas, coal, refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and compost will be produced from the waste. Around 80 per cent of the waste will be recycled and reused while only 20 per cent will be disposed, according to the plan.
The Investment Board Nepal is preparing to sign a project development agreement (PDA) with Nepwaste, which is a joint venture of Nepal’s Organic Village and Finland’s Communication Private Limited. The Board says it has sent the final draft of agreement to the company and the signing will take place after the company approves it.
The Board’s spokesperson Uttam Bhakta Wagle hopes the agreement will be signed in January and the company will begin collecting waste within three months after that.
In the first phase, 10 municipalities of Kathmandu Valley–Kathmandu, Dakshinkali, Chandragiri, Nagarjun, Tarakeshwor, Tokha, Budhanilakantha, Gokarneshwor, Kageshwori and Shankarapur–will be included in the project. Kathmandu’s Kirtipur will not be included in this preliminary phase.
Lalitpur, Godawari and Mahalaxmi municipalities will be covered in the second and Bhaktapur, Madhyapur, Suryabinayak and Nagarko in the third phases.
So far, local governments themselves have been managing the waste from the areas under their jurisdiction.
Wagle says implementing the project will cost Rs 4.4 billion in the first phase.
