Cuttack, Sept. 24: The municipal corporation has moved one step closer to implementing its solid waste management project to streamline sanitation in the city.

The Cuttack Municipal Corporation has cleared the technical bids of two private companies - one from Mumbai and another from Bangalore - for consideration of their financial bids for awarding the five-year contract for garbage collection and disposal. "The selection process is expected to be over by second week of October. We expect the private operator, who would get the contract, to start garbage collection and disposal from November," municipal commissioner Gyana Das today told The Telegraph.

The civic body has been in a tight spot since the five-year contract for garbage collection with Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited of Hyderabad expired in April. While the Hyderabad firm has been allowed to continue in an interim arrangement on a monthly contract basis, the corporation has received flak for poor solid waste management in various parts of the city, especially during the past six months.

"Waste strewn all over on the roadsides has become a common sight. Door-to-door waste collection is irregular in many areas," said Gouribala Patnaik of Srivihar. Sirish Mohapatra of Badambadi had the same complaint.

The civic administration now hopes to streamline waste management in the city through penalty provisions for the first time for service-level violations in the new contract. "A wide range of penalty provisions has been included to ensure that the private operator, who gets the contract, does not work sloppily," said head of the standing committee for licence and appeal Bikash Ranjan Behera.

"To ensure monitoring of the sanitation job, the city has been divided into four zones. Besides, the opening of four zonal offices with telephone facility and field officers or supervisors has been included in the contract," Behera said.

The penalty provisions in the contract include Rs 250 per bit per day for sweeping not done in any bit, Rs 50 per day per house for municipal solid waste not collected for more than one day (24 hours), Rs 250 per bit per roadside bin not cleared for more than a day, Rs 1,000 for overflowing of garbage from roadside bins for more than 24 hours and Rs 5,000 for collection of mixed debris with garbage and transportation to the land fill site, Rs 1,000 per day for non-functioning of the complaint redress cell and Rs 250 per day delayed for non-attendance within 24 hours to a complaint registered.

Moreover, the private operator will take up sweeping in 40 of the 59 wards, door-to-door collection of garbage from 59 wards and mechanised sweeping of identified main roads in all 59 wards, mechanised transportation of garbage to transfer station and mechanised and forward transportation to the dumping site at Chakradharpur.

Service charges will be based on the quantity of municipal solid waste transported according to the rate approved after finalisation of the bid.

In the new contract, the base price per tonne of municipal waste has been set between Rs 3,000 and Rs 3,500.

The city generates 200 tonnes of solid waste every day.