MCD invites bids for biomining at silt dumping site in Singhola

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will initiate biomining and remediation work at the silt dumping site at Singhola village in outer Delhi, similar to biomining work currently in progress at the Capital’s three landfills at Okhla, Bhalswa and Ghazipur, officials aware of the matter have said, adding that the civic body has invited bids for the project to clear 900,000 tonnes of accumulated silt and waste.
The silt dumping site in Singhola, located near Khanpur village on Grand Trunk Road, is spread over an area of 7.2 acres. Officials said the site is used to dump silt collected during the annual pre-monsoon exercise of desilting the Capital’s drainage system, but has also accumulated plastics, construction and demolition waste, and other waste.
Biomining separates various components of legacy waste such as plastic, paper, cloth, sand, and bricks by passing them through trommel machines, which act as cylindrical rotating sieves.
A senior MCD official said that the corporation invited bids to clear the site on March 14.
“The open dumping of at Singhola is causing serious concern for the ecosystem through air, water and land pollution. There are directions from the National Green Tribunal to clear out such areas as soon as possible,” the official said, on condition of anonymity.
The official said that MCD has an expenditure sanction of ₹70.4 crore to flatten the silt dump, and material derived after the biomining exercise is expected to be used for the construction of roads.
The capacity saturation at the Singhola site has led to silt being diverted to the Bhalswa landfill —dumping more silt and fresh waste at the garbage mountain has reversed the biomining process at the site and has slowed down net gains, but there are no alternatives available with the civic body, the official said.
According to officials, there are about 2,846 constructed drains in Delhi, with a total length of 3,692 kilometres. HT on November 3 had reported that according to an engineering department note released in October, the Singhola site faces space constraint as no area is left for further disposal of silt.
“The vertical level at the site cannot be raised further… Further dumping may cause the risk of sliding/slipping of silt towards adjoining areas. Hence there was an urgent need to reduce the load of silt and create space for dumping of silt and create more space for dumping further at this site,” the note stated.
A second MCD official said that the Singhola site was transferred from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in April 2018 to the municipality in order to dispose of silt from east and north Delhi areas. The silt dumping site is used for dumping the silt material collected during the pre-monsoon annual desilting exercise of Capital’s drainage system.
MCD, over the last one year, has been in touch with National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the utilisation of accumulated silt for the formation of the base in construction of roads. Accordingly, MCD officials said, the Singhola site was inspected by NHAI in December 2022.
“NHAI conveyed to us that the available material has a lot of plastic and garbage, and for making it suitable for use in highway construction, the silt will need to be segregated from other fractions,” the MCD official quoted above said.