The Calcutta Municipal Corporation has sought the help of the Calcutta Environment Improvement Project (CEIP) for a cleaner city.

The CEIP will prepare a master plan for solid waste disposal, which will be funded by the Manila-based Asian Development Bank.

The bank has sanctioned Rs 1.5 crore for the project and the CEIP has been given six months, from August, to ready the plan.

As part of the project, a new dumping site will be identified as the present site, Dhapa, spread over 40 hectares off the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, has reached its capacity.

“While preparing the plan, we will lay stress mainly on two aspects, technical feasibility and financial viability,” said Rajiva Sinha, project director of the CEIP.

“To carry out the whole work in a comprehensive way, we have engaged Gartner Lee of Canada and SNG Mercantile of Calcutta. The report is likely to be ready by January next year,” he added.

The study for technical feasibility will cover options like recycling, composting, incineration and conversion of gas to power, while that for financial viability will consider the framework for undertaking all these jobs.

The report will suggest a cost-effective method for reclamation of Dhapa and also how to use the site, post-reclamation, for gas extraction and energy generation.

“The current trend across the world is reduction of global warming. In the new waste disposal system, there will be a system to check emission of gases that lead to global warning. We are also planning to adopt the carbon credit system, under the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism, to augment revenue,” Sinha said.

The study shall recommend an “appropriate public-private partnership” model for implementing the system. The civic body will be asked to boost garbage collection to ensure that waste does not litter the city lanes and bylanes. Of late, garbage dumping at Dhapa has decreased considerably.

“Our sole motive is to present a city free of garbage and ensure people breathe in fresh air,” signed of CEIP project director Sinha.