New Delhi: Biomining at Delhi’s Bhalswa and Okhla landfills has been halted for the past 12 days and will take at least another week to resume, potentially delaying the flattening of the two dumpsites when MCD has missed the deadline at least five times already.MCD has completed the process of engaging a new concessionaire for Phase III of biomining at the two landfills. The agency has agreed to do the work at rates lower than those being paid to the existing concessionaire under Phase II.“The existing agency verbally agreed to continue biomining until Phase III becomes fully operational. However, the rates charged by it are higher than those offered by the new concessionaire, which could have financial implications for the civic body. As per norms also, we cannot get the work done at higher rates when a lower offer is available,” officials said.Now, while the old agency has packed up, the new one is yet to start biomining.Under the earlier arrangement, the concessionaire was assigned for biomining 20 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of legacy waste at Okhla and 30 lakh MT at Bhalswa in 18 months. After completing the targets within the stipulated period, it was given additional work to process another 10 lakh MT at Okhla and 15 lakh MT at Bhalswa, which also the agency completed.“It was agreed that the agency would continue the work with the aim of flattening the landfills in a time-bound manner. The new concessionaire has now been selected, and it will start work once the machinery required for biomining and other processing operations is installed,” an official said.The latest deadline for flattening Bhalswa and Okhla is Jan 31, 2027. Work at the landfills has already been hit by erratic rainfall.The Okhla, Bhalswa and Ghazipur dumpsites continue to hold a substantial quantity of legacy waste. Till mid-Sept, a total of 220.06 lakh MT had been biomined across Okhla (71.64 lakh MT), Bhalswa (103.27 lakh MT) and Ghazipur (45.15 lakh MT).MCD’s figures put the remaining legacy waste at 102.2 lakh MT, including 15.7 lakh MT at Okhla, 19.5 lakh MT at Bhalswa and 66.9 lakh MT at Ghazipur.Around 100 acres have been reclaimed through legacy waste remediation, including 45 acres at Bhalswa, 35 acres at Okhla and 20 acres at Ghazipur. The target timeline for flattening the Ghazipur landfill is Dec 2027.The three dumpsites also receive 3,000-4,000 MT of fresh waste every day, adding to the challenge of clearing the accumulated legacy waste. To address the problem, MCD has awarded separate tenders for setting up waste-processing plants at five locations, with a combined capacity to process 5,900 MT daily. These plants are expected to become operational by Nov-end.
