June 15: The Guwahati Municipal Corporation has asked the Infrastructure Development Corporation of Assam Limited (IDCAL) to expedite the process for execution of the solid waste management project.

Deputy mayor Kamal Dey today said the corporation has asked the company to start the bidding process management at the earliest to ensure timely implementation of the project.

He said talks between the corporation and the company, held at the mayor’s office on Tuesday, centred on the delay in the execution of the project. Mayor Dolly Bora chaired the meeting, which was attended by the company’s chief executive officer S.K. Mahanta.

The Centre has sanctioned Rs 47.3 crore in January to execute the solid waste management project, the first scheme for the city to be cleared under the mission. Of this, the Union urban development ministry has already released Rs 8 crore as the first instalment. The rest will be released in three phases depending on the progress of work.

Expressing concern over the delay in floating tenders for the project, Dey said despite the corporation extending all co-operation, IDCAL had failed to invite expressions of interest even six months after the project got the Centre’s nod.

Dey, however, said chief executive officer of IDCAL, S.K. Mahanta, has assured execution of the project within four months.

“Mahanta has informed us that execution of the project could not begin because a clearance from the Union environment and forest ministry was pending,” he said.

Unless Dispur takes immediate steps, the city may lose the Centre’s share of funds under the mission, which is a time-bound programme ending in the 2012-13 fiscal with no specific statewise allocation. The funds are allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.

Dey added that IDCAL and the corporation would soon sign a memorandum of understanding for the execution of the project.