Seven Years After Launch, Pune’s Waste-to-Energy Project Yet to Generate Electricity; PMC Sets Fresh November Deadline
Reported by Mubarak Ansari
Pune, 13th July 2026: Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) ambitious waste-to-energy project at Ramtekdi, conceived to generate electricity from municipal solid waste, remains incomplete nearly seven years after work began.
Despite repeated deadline extensions since its launch, the project has yet to produce a single unit of electricity, raising fresh concerns over delays in the city’s waste management infrastructure.
The project received its work order in 2017, and construction began in 2019. However, despite the passage of seven years, the facility has not become fully operational, while the city continues to grapple with mounting solid waste.
Designed to process 750 tonnes of waste per day, the Ramtekdi plant is currently handling only about 250 tonnes daily, leaving a substantial quantity of dry waste untreated. The shortfall has added pressure to Pune’s waste disposal system and intensified concerns over the city’s long-term waste management strategy.
The project has now received a financial boost after the Power Finance Corporation sanctioned a ₹243 crore loan, of which the first instalment of ₹130 crore has already been released.
Following the release of funds, the PMC has directed the project contractor to increase processing capacity to 600 tonnes of waste per day by November 2026. The civic body has further set a target of making the plant fully operational by April 2027, when it is expected to process 750 tonnes of waste daily and generate 13.19 MW of electricity.
Despite multiple deadline extensions over the years, no accountability has yet been fixed for the prolonged delay in completing the project. The continued postponements, coupled with the city’s growing waste burden, have once again raised questions over the PMC’s planning and execution of major infrastructure projects.
Additional Municipal Commissioner Prajit Nair said that with the required funding now available, work on the project would be expedited.
He added that the contractor has been instructed to ensure that electricity generation begins by November, making adherence to the revised timeline mandatory.
