PPPs crucial for investment, technology efficiency for waste management in India: Hardeep Singh Puri

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said public-private partnerships will be vital for financing, low-cost technologies, new business models and innovative monitoring mechanism to meet the growing demand for solid and liquid waste management.

The Union housing and urban affairs minister said with the launch of the second phase of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, the government aims to make an ODF India garbage-free and water secure. He was addressing the fifth ISC-FICCI Sanitation Awards and India Sanitation Conclave 2021. According to a statement issued by FICCI, Puri said the government has constructed over 62 lakh toilets for households in urban areas and brought a holistic behavioural change in citizens towards ''Swachhta''. '

'Public-private partnerships will be vital for financing, low-cost technologies, new business models and innovative monitoring mechanism to meet the growing demand for solid and liquid waste management,'' the minister was quoted as saying in the statement. Puri said that SMBU 2.0 will provide an impetus to the city governments to comprehensively plan measures for sludge management, waste water treatment, source segregation of garbage, reduction in single-use plastic and management of construction and demolition waste and bioremediation of dumpsite.


The statement also stated that Padmashri Naina Lal Kidwai, Chair, India Sanitation Coalition (ISC), said picking up on the theme of enhancing the role of women in the delivery of public services and public goods like sanitation and water, the government itself has begun to embark on engaging women in the delivery of sanitation and water.