Sweden, India To Sign Pact For Urban Development

16 Feb 2013

Sweden and India will sign a memorandum of understanding for sustainable urban development sometime in March or April, according to Counsellor, Environment, Climate Change and Energy, Embassy of Sweden, Karl Edberg.

He said here on Friday the agreement would be signed with the Union Ministry of Urban Development. “Once it is signed, it will be open for the entire country. Each city can utilise it to generate energy from waste in a sustainable manner and use the biogas generated for urban transport,” he said.

The Swedish Counsellor was here leading a 15-member delegation that included representatives of Swedish Energy Agency and businessmen to participate in deliberations with officials of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation on solid waste management.

He said currently a waste-to-energy project was going on in collaboration with Indraprastha Gas Ltd and it would close this year.

The biogas produced can be upgraded to CNG, he said. “Sweden has a proven technology for it,” he said. Delhi has 34 sewage treatment plants and 16 sites.

The technology can be adopted for solid waste management by any city, he said. The gains of switching over from fossil fuels to CNG could be immense in terms of reducing pollution and bringing down fuel import.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/government-and-policy/sweden-india-to-sign-pact-for-urban-development/article4419370.ece?ref=wl_industry-and-economy