Mahagenco to supply 6.17 crore tonnes of fly ash for Samruddhi Mahamarg expansion

Nagpur: To address the big problem of disposing of industrial waste, the Maharashtra State Power Generation Company (Mahagenco) has signed an agreement with the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC). Under it, 6.17 crore metric tonnes of fly ash will be given for building the proposed expansion corridors of the Samruddhi Mahamarg.

The ash from thermal power plants will be used on a large scale in three new road corridors starting from Nagpur. The Chandrapur corridor will need 2.79 crore metric tonnes, the Gondia corridor 2.09 crore metric tonnes and the Bhandara-Gadchiroli corridor 1.14 crore metric tonnes of fly ash.

The source of the ash will be decided by location. For stretches on the Nagpur side, fly ash will be taken from the Koradi and Khaperkheda thermal power plants. The Chandrapur Super Thermal Power Station will directly meet the needs of the stretches further along the expansion.

Under the arrangement, the contractor who wins the tender for each road stretch will sign a tripartite agreement directly with the supplying thermal power plant and MSRDC. This is expected to considerably reduce the heavy burden of storing and disposing of ash, and the environmental pressure, at thermal power stations in the region.

According to an official press release issued by Mahagenco, the agreement will remain valid until 31 March 2032, or until the physical completion of the project, whichever is earlier. Use of industrial waste on such a large scale is in line with a directive of the Centre and the state government that calls for 100 per cent use of ash in building infrastructure.

With this, the expansion of the Samruddhi Mahamarg and the problem of power plant ash have both been tied to a single agreement. The same fly ash will be used during construction in all three corridors: Chandrapur, Gondia and Bhandara-Gadchiroli.