Imphal, March 18: In a big set back to the Manipur Government and Imphal Municipal authorities, the proposed Rs 52 crore solid waste management project sponsored by French Government has now been scrapped even as the State Government is yet to acquire the dumping site at Tingri, owing to the Centre's change in bilateral cooperation with the French Government.

A highly placed source in the Environment and Ecology Wing told The Sangai Express that the project was conceived during the President Rule in the State in 2001 when a team of State officials visited France and signed an agreement on the project with different agencies led by LYSA.

The total estimated cost of the project at the time was Rs 52 crore with 90 per cent grant from the French Govt, the source said adding following the agreement, experts from the State's Environment and Ecology Wing conducted field survey in the urban areas and the project sites at Lamdeng Khunou near Lamsang and Tingri area.

Representatives from the French Govt have even surveyed the sites, the source added.

The proposed project was supposed to have two components, one recycling project and the other management project.

The recycling project will convert bio-degradable waste into manure while the management project includes transportation, collection of city waste and their disposal.

The source said that the scrapping of the project has come at a time when the signing of the project protocol with the French Govt was about to take place.

The Union Finance Ministry in a recent intimation to the State Government informed about the freezing of the project citing change in bilateral relation with the French Government.

The Centre, however, assured the State Government that it would find an alternative way to start the project, the source added.

In the meantime, the Environment and Ecology Wing as part of the proposed river conservation project being taken up by it has decided to place dustbins along the banks of Nambul river stretching from Wahengbam Leikai to Keishamthong from March 20.For this as many as 200 dustbins having capacity of 100 litres each have been brought to the State today for the project.

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