The Local Self-Government Department in Kerala (LSGD) has issued an order directing the Kochi Corporation to allot 1 acre of land at Brahmapuram for the establishment of a Regional Sanitary Waste Incineration Facility.The order, dated October 12, was issued by T.V. Anupama, Special Secretary, LSGD, based on the minutes of a meeting she had chaired on September 26 to finalise land for regional sanitary incinerator facilities. This followed a government directive granting approval to set up four regional sanitary waste incineration facilities in the State — each with a capacity of 20 TPD (tonnes per dday) — at Kottarakara (Kollam), Muvattupuzha (Ernakulam), Kuttippuram (Malappuram), and Kadannappalli (Kannur), aimed at bridging the gap in the current decentralised sanitary waste management system.Each plant is proposed to be established on 50 cents of land and implemented by Clean Kerala Company Ltd (CKCL) under a suitable public-private-Partnership (PPP) model. However, the plan to set up the facility at Muvattupuzha did not materialise, prompting the department to explore alternative land options within Ernakulam district.“With reference to Brahmapuram, it was observed that the Kochi Corporation had prepared and approved a waste management master plan in which certain areas were earmarked for future development. It was thus noted that 1 acre of land adjacent to the existing incinerator at Brahmapuram, Ernakulam, had been identified in the master plan for establishing the proposed Regional Sanitary Incinerator Facility,” the order stated.Accordingly, the Corporation has been instructed to formally allocate 1 acre of land adjacent to the existing incinerator at Brahmapuram — already earmarked in the master plan — for the establishment of the facility. The secretary of Kochi Corporation has been directed to take necessary steps to demarcate and transfer the land for the project, in consultation with Suchitwa Mission and Clean Kerala Company. While operationalising the Regional Sanitary Incinerator Facility, priority shall be given to processing the excess sanitary waste generated within the limits of Kochi Corporation, the order added.In September, sanitary waste collection within the Corporation limits was temporarily halted after one of the two incinerators at the Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Facility (CBWTF) of Kerala Enviro Infrastructure Limited (KEIL) at Ambalamedu was shut down for maintenance on September 1. This disrupted doorstep sanitary waste collection by Aakri, a mobile app-based platform. A mere 10-day interruption in collection had then resulted in a backlog of 3,200 orders within Kochi Corporation.Published - November 05, 2025 09:45 am IST