Govt. to directly purchase land in Ayyankuzhi for waste management project

The land to be acquired at Ayyankuzhi near Ambalamugal as part of the rehabilitation of 40-odd families affected by industrial pollution will be purchased directly from the owners by the government using funds under the government’s World Bank-supported Kerala Solid Waste Management Project (KSWMP).

A meeting held by Ernakulam District Collector G. Priyanka on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, had decided to forward the land acquisition proposal to KSWMP as part of plans to set up a solid waste treatment plant on the 9.4-acre strip sandwiched between two major public sector units – Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited-Kochi Refinery and Hindustan Organic Chemicals Limited.

Senior officials of the Department of Local Self-Government said funds have been allocated under KSWMP for direct purchase of lands from their owners. The process will be completed after receiving approval from the government regarding the land price. They said the direct procurement process was mooted to avoid time and cost overruns in completing the project and reduce compensation-related litigation by conducting negotiations in due course.

Officials added that it is the government’s responsibility to decide on the solid waste treatment project to be established at the site. Although there was initially a proposal to establish a sanitary landfill for inert waste, this proposal was later suspended. They said that the proposal to establish a facility to process construction and demolition waste is being discussed.

The previous Left Democratic Front government had proposed a construction and demolition waste processing plant in Ernakulam with a waste processing capacity of 100 to 150 tonnes under the public-private partnership model. It was part of the regional facilities proposed under the World Bank-supported KSWMP.