PANJIM: Within a fortnight the State capital will have its own system to treat garbage and will not have to depend on the Saligao Waste Treatment Plant to treat its wet waste. In a major relief, the government has decided to provide the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) with the mechanical biological treatment plant (MBTP) with the technology that runs Saligao plant to treat its garbage instead of sending it to Saligao. Solid Waste Management Corporation (SWMC) Director Michael Lobo held a meeting with Panjim MLA Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate and Panjim Mayor Uday Madkaikar alongwith corporators and officials on Tuesday after CCP threatened to stop sewage tankers coming from Saligao, Calangute and neighbouring areas to the sewage treatment plant (STP) at Tonca in the Capital. After the meeting Lobo said that as a temporary measure the government has decided to provide CCP with the machinery to set up its plant and treat its waste in Panjim. “We will provide them with the machineries and the plant can be set up in 10 days. The plant has a capacity to treat 7 tonnes an hour. The plant is a temporary measure till the Bainguinim plant is ready,” he stated. He further said that the Bainguinim plant shall take two years once the government receives the environmental clearance for the project from the central authorities. Madkaikar said that the municipality will set up the plant at their existing waste sorting plant behind Heera petrol pump near the Kadamba Bus Stand. The Mayor said, “Today in the meeting, Michael Lobo informed us that the government has agreed to provide the machinery to set up the plant as a temporary measure till the Bainguinim plant is ready. He said instead of undertaking the expansion of the Saligao plant, the same machinery will be provided to the CCP for setting up the plant.” Stating that the plant will have the capacity to treat Panjim’s daily quantity of garbage, he said, “Till the Bainguinim plant is not ready this will be a major relief. We did not have any option but to threaten to stop their sewage vehicles from disposing their sewage in Panjim.”