The government has started the construction of a waste processing centre in Sainamaina Municipality of Rupandehi district.

The investment in the project is said to be around Rs 1 billion. According to authorities, the waste processing centre will be able to process 400 tonnes of garbage on a daily basis.

Waste management is a major problem in Rupandehi district. Due to the absence of proper waste management plants in the district, the majority of the local units have been dumping waste on river banks and open areas. To solve the garbage management problem in Rupandehi, the federal government has enlisted waste management projects in the district as one of the national priority projects.

To address the garbage issue in the district, authorities had earlier initiated the construction of a waste disposal centre in Butwal but the project could not move forward due to locals’ disagreement with the proposed location. The proposed waste management centre in Butwal was said to be constructed with financial support from a donor. But locals and leaders of various political parties protested against the proposal and the plan was cancelled.

“The construction of a waste management centre in Butwal came to a halt due to obstruction by the locals. Therefore, a waste management centre is now being constructed in Ward No. 10 of Sainamaina with the government’s investment, ” said Shivaraj Subedi, mayor of Butwal Sub Metropolis.

In the first phase of the project, garbage from Sainamaina, Butwal and Kanchan Rural Municipality will be processed at the waste management centre.

“In the second phase, we plan to process waste from all 16 local units of Rupandehi and also from four local units of Kapilvastu district,” said Chitra Bahadur Karki, mayor of Sainamaina Municipality. “All solid waste, including medical ones, can be processed at the waste processing centre. We plan to utilise the by-products as compost fertiliser.”

According to him, they are also looking into monetising the plan in the future.

“We have selected an area far from human settlements to minimise conflicts with the local residents,” he said. “The centre will be handed over to the private sector for operation after completion of the construction work.”

The proposed waste processing centre is spread in three bighas of land in Ukash Chhetra of Khormor Khola. It is five kilometres away from the East-West Highway and two kilometres from a human settlement.

According to Mayor Karki, the project was started after conducting an Environmental Impact Assessment in the proposed area.

“The report showed that we could go ahead with the construction of the waste processing centre at Sainamaina,” he said.

The federal government has provided Rs 100 million as grant for the construction of the waste processing centre. In the last fiscal year, the government had allocated Rs 30 million for the project.

Suraj Neupane, the project chief of Sainamaina Municipality, said, “The Ministry of Urban Development has also allocated Rs 4.5 million for garbage management in the district. The amount will be utilised to repair and upgrade the side roads that link the highway to the waste processing centre.”

The Ministry of Finance has also vowed to provide an additional budget for the construction of the waste processing centre after the project was included in the national priority projects list.

“A Detailed Project Report has been prepared for the construction of the project. We will send additional budget on the basis of the work performance,” said Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel, adding that he has directed the project officials to complete the construction of the waste processing centre within two years.