August 14, 2025: Mumbai’s waste-to-energy plant at Deonar is now expected to be completed by October 2026, a year later than originally planned, due to delays in securing regulatory approvals. The Rs 648-crore project, a key initiative under the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) plan to manage the city’s mounting solid waste, began construction in June 2022 and was initially slated to start operations in October 2025.
Designed to process 600 tonnes of municipal solid waste per day and generate approximately 4 MW of electricity, the facility’s contractor, M/s Chennai MSW Pvt Ltd, requested an extension, citing delays in obtaining statutory clearances, including environmental clearance and the consent to establish (CTE) from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB). In a letter dated July 30, the contractor thanked the BMC for reviewing the project’s status and challenges, and requested that no penalty be imposed for the delay.
The BMC also faced a setback when the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) rejected a proposal to double the plant’s power capacity from 4 MW to 8 MW. The SEIAA advised the BMC to reapply under the expansion category, a separate process. However, the civic body has written to the MPCB, citing central guidelines that exempt waste-to-energy projects up to 25 MW from this requirement, and is seeking the CTE amendment to be waived.
With Mumbai generating around 7,000 metric tonnes of waste daily and currently treating none of it, the delay in the Deonar plant could exacerbate the city’s waste management crisis. Officials had intended this facility to be the first step in addressing the urgent solid waste problem. The postponement underscores the challenges of executing large-scale, environmentally sensitive projects in Mumbai, particularly when multiple regulatory authorities are involved.
Source: Prop News Time
