Kathmandu Metropolitan City and the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre have signed a memorandum of understanding to restart the closed Teku waste-to-energy project within two months.
The process to restart the closed waste to energy project in Teku, Kathmandu has finally started. Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) and Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) signed MoU to bring back this project as a model program. This initiative was started by Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation Minister Biraj Bhakta Shrestha.
Minister Shrestha said that we must connect waste management with energy production in cities to protect environment and promote clean energy. Based on his proposal, both sides agreed to revive the Teku project.
Discussion and Planning for the Project
Recently, Minister Shrestha and KMC Acting Mayor Sunita Dangol met to discuss about running the Teku project in this current fiscal year. They also discussed about managing and repairing street lights, adding solar street lights, and putting heritage-friendly lights in historical areas. After this meeting, AEPC board member Ankita Shah coordinated between the offices. She said that AEPC will work more with KMC for solar street lights, heritage electrification, and waste-to-energy projects in future.
The MoU clearly defines responsibilities of KMC and AEPC for rebuilding, running, transferring, and managing the project in the long term. According to the agreement, they aim to restart project within next two months.
Funding and Broad Goals
The project was first built with help of around Rs 1 crore 80 lakh from European Union, but it stopped working after running for some time. Now, the money needed to rebuild it will be managed from Mini Grid Energy Access Program run by AEPC with support of World Bank.
Under this program, waste-to-energy projects are already running in seven municipalities. Also, more than 20 big commercial biogas projects have received help. AEPC has already completed feasibility study for waste-to-energy in municipalities all over Nepal. They have also prepared a project proposal worth around 48 million US dollars to submit to Green Climate Fund, which is currently in approval process at Ministry of Finance.
Additionally, they are developing waste-to-energy projects linked with carbon market under Article 6.2 of Paris Agreement. AEPC has already called for letter of intent to promote small, medium, and big biogas projects in institutional, community, and commercial sectors. This project will help manage decaying waste, make biogas and organic fertilizer, and support circular economy.
AI Disclaimer: This article was originally published on https://bajarkochirfar.com. It has been translated with the help of AI. For the best understanding and accurate facts, we recommend reading the original Nepali version.
