The Kathmandu Metropolitan City is unlikely to meet its goal of producing power from waste before Dashain.

KMC had set the target of producing energy from waste before Dashain. “Although we are trying our best to generate energy at the earliest, the initial process has taken more time than expected,” Gyanendra Karki, spokesperson at the KMC told The Himalayan Times, adding, “We have not been able to start power generation due to delay in collecting dung.” He said the KMC was now planning to start energy production between Dashain and Tihar.

A few days ago, KMC said frequent public holidays had delayed operation of the plant. The waste-to-energy plant imported from India had arrived in the city on August 28. KMC had installed the plant within a week.

According to Rabin Man Shrestha, chief of the environment division of KMC and director of Promoting Integrated Sustainable Solid Waste Management Project, after the preliminary stage of 21 days, power will be generated from waste material. The system will consume three tonnes of solid waste per day, producing 14 kilowatts of electricity.

Spokesperson Karki said the KMC had invited the prime minister to inaugurate power generation to give a positive message about waste management. KMC’s initiative is part of a one-year pilot project supported by the European Union.

According to the metropolitan city office, the three machines cost Rs 18.20 million. It has been said that the electricity generated from the plants will be used by the KMC office.

KMC is also planning to replicate the project in other municipalities if the one-year pilot project succeeds. It hopes that the waste-to-energy project will make waste management in Kathmandu Valley easier. It said the project was just a preliminary effort to produce electricity from waste. Besides generating power, the KMC also plans to produce 96 kg gas, 300 kg bio-organic fertiliser, and 13,500 litres of purified water daily from the garbage collected at the Teku transfer station.

A total of 450 tonnes of garbage is produced in Kathmandu Valley every day. Nearly 63 per cent of the garbage is organic waste.

According to a study conducted by Alternative Energy Promotion Centre, Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City, Bhaktapur Municipality, Madhyapur Thimi Municipality, Kirtipur Municipality and Kalimati fruit and vegetable market alone produce 331 tonnes of waste every day.

KMC had been facing a tough time managing household waste due to lack of resources and technology. The project is expected to assist the KMC in tackling problems created by household waste.