Ugrankunnu biomining operations at a waste dumping yard owned by Kottarakkara municipality in Kollam are nearing completion, with around 40 cents of land expected to be reclaimed for other development initiatives by January. A World Bank delegation reviewed the work as part of the Kerala Solid Waste Management Project (KSWMP), which is being implemented with financial assistance from the bank.
The delegation visited the Ugrankunnu dumping yard and assessed the progress of the biomining operations. The team expressed satisfaction with the work, according to the report. Backfilling, the final phase of the process, is currently nearing completion at the site.
Once the project is completed, the reclaimed land will become available for other development initiatives. The recovered area had previously been occupied by accumulated waste, meaning the project is intended to address both legacy waste and the limited availability of usable land within the municipal system.
During the visit, the delegation also inspected the resource recovery facility (RRF) associated with the waste-management operations. Members of Haritha Karma Sena, the local waste-collection network, interacted with the visiting team. The visit therefore covered both the treatment of accumulated waste at the dumpsite and the systems involved in recovering resources from municipal waste.
The delegation later inspected a biogas plant established at Rama Rao Hospital in South Paravoor. The inspection brought together representatives involved in the implementation and oversight of the Kerala Solid Waste Management Project, including state and district project management officials and technical experts.
The team was accompanied by Premalatha S, environment expert with the state project management unit; Sherin, social development and gender expert; Rajesh Pai, social expert with the Kollam district project management unit; and Thomas Panicker, finance management expert. Prasad, a social expert representing SMS Company, the agency executing the project, was also part of the delegation.
The project’s scheduled completion in January places the final backfilling work at the centre of the immediate implementation timeline. The next operational milestone is the completion of the biomining process, after which the approximately 40 cents of reclaimed land can be made available for uses to be determined through the municipal development process.
