Bhubaneswar, Dec. 12: The municipal corporation and the public works department have expedited the process of creating a facility for smooth management of construction and demolition waste in the city.

While the civic body has identified two sites for setting up treatment plants for construction and demolition waste, officials of the works department will come up with guidelines for reusing and recycling the waste in a scientific manner. The two treatment facilities will come up at Patia and near Kargil Basti.

The city administration will engage a private partner for handling and management of the waste. Cities such as New Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad already have facilities for recycling and reusing such waste.

"We have identified an unused pond near Kargil Basti adjacent to the city airport to set up the construction and demolition waste treatment plant. Similarly, another patch of land has been identified in Patia. The project will be executed in a public private partnership mode," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

The city generates about 200 metric tonnes of construction and demolition waste a day. According to the civic body's plan, the dumping of such waste at the site near Kargil Basti will serve a dual purpose, as the identified water body created by an abandoned laterite mine will be filled up by dumping activity.

"The Airports Authority of India had requested us on a number of occasions in the past to fill the site as birds coming to the artificial water body are posing a threat to the planes near their flight path at the Biju Patnaik International Airport. The site near Patia railway station is also an abandoned laterite mining site," said the mayor.

The ministry of environment has asked the public works department to draw a plan to recycle the construction and demolition waste generated by them as the agency is the biggest producer of such waste in the city.

Chief engineer (buildings) S.R. Sethi said they had received the direction from the environment ministry for framing guidelines for reuse of construction waste. "We will form a committee which will calculate the amount of such waste being generated by our construction activities and make a plan to recycle and reuse it. The plan will be put up before the government shortly for approval," said Sethi.

Environmentalist Sailabala Padhi said the reuse of construction and demolition waste would ensure reduction in usage of natural resources such as sand and stone and enhance their conservation. "The reuse of such waste in the proposed facility could also help reducing air pollution levels," said Padhi.