Chennai: Fuel shortages and rising power demand have stalled the biomining project at the Kodungaiyur dumpyard, leaving the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) with just seven months before the Feb 2027 deadline to clear lakhs of tonnes of legacy waste. The project is aimed at curbing pollution, fire hazards and groundwater contamination in north Chennai.Until now, the project has completed removing only 61.56% of the waste, raising concerns over whether the remediation effort will be completed before Feb 2027. Of the 66.52 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste earmarked for processing across six packages, workers cleared only 40.95 lakh MT as of July 7.Progress varies sharply across the six packages. Package six, handled by Zigma Global Environ Solutions, leads with 94.54% completion, followed by package four at 93.75%. Package two, run by Ramky Infrastructure Ltd, has reached 77.53% of its target.Other sections, however, have lagged. Package five, also by Ramky Infrastructure Ltd, has emerged as the slowest, with workers processing just 30% of its 18.35 lakh MT target. Package one, the largest at 21.20 lakh MT, stands at 65.58% completion, while package three has reached 66.19%.“The delay stems from disruptions caused by fuel shortages and high power demand, which affected the heavy machinery used for excavation, segregation and processing,” a senior GCC official said. “Efforts are under way to accelerate the pace of work in the remaining months to avoid missing the deadline.”Civic authorities are now under pressure to increase the pace of processing to clear the remaining 25.57 lakh MT of legacy waste before the scheduled deadline, which would roughly add up to 3.65 lakh MT per month.
