Panaji (Goa): With the State’s lone garbage treatment facility at Saligao yielding out great success, the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) has decided to enhance the waste handling capacity of the state-of-the-art plant to 250 tons per day from the existing 100 tons per day.

The decision was taken during the GWMC meeting held on Monday chaired by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. The enhancement of the capacity is been taken to handle and treat the waste from Porvorim, Mapusa and Siolim area. The plant was initially taking waste from coastal belts along the North Goa.

GWMC director Michael Lobo said that the plant currently accepts 120-125 tones of garbage daily which is recycled in a scientific manner.

“Now we have decided to treat the waste from areas like Porvorim, Mapusa and Siolim,” he said.

For that, he said, we decided to increase the capacity of the plant to 250 tons per day.

“We will have to first apply for fresh environment clearance from the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and the Consent to Operate from the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB),” Lobo said.

The facility was inaugurated by Parrikar, when he was defence Minister on May 30, 2016.

The facility has already impressed then Union Minister for Environment and Forest Late Mahadev Dave, Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis and the latest being the BJP national president Amit Shah.

The facility costing Rs 146 crore, set up by Hindustan Waste Treatment Pvt Ltd (HWTPL), since its inception processed around 40,000-50,000 tones of the waste. The plant is generating 8,000 units of power; of which 4,500 kW is used within the plant while 3,500kW is supplied to the state government.

Team TNV