Two companies with foreign collaboration and technology are to be given contracts to process municipal solid waste in the Colombo and Gampaha districts and generate electricity under private-public partnerships (PPPs) with the Waste Management Authority of the Western Province.
The investors, Fairway Holdings (Pvt) Ltd., which will set up a facility at Thumbowila, Karadiyana, and KCHT Lanka Jang (Pvt) Ltd., which will operate from a site in Muthurajawela, will do waste-to-energy projects using incineration with foreign technology, according to Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development officials.
The government decided to go for waste-to-energy projects to tackle the growing problem of municipal solid waste disposal for which no sustainable solution has been found for several years, they said.
The waste now ends up in unsanitary landfills which create environmental problems and has led to protests by residents.
The two locations, of 10 acres each, are common disposal sites for local authorities in the Western Province identified by the Waste Management Authority, Western Province (WMA-WP) for municipal solid waste generated in the Colombo and Gampaha districts. Fairway Holdings at Thumbowila, Karadiyana, and KCHT Lanka Jang (Pvt) Ltd. at Muthurajawela, are expected to handle a minimum of 500 metric tonnes and 400 MT a day of municipal solid waste, respectively. The WMA-WP will have stakes in both consortia and be responsible for supplying most of the municipal solid waste, officials said. KCHT Lanka Jang (Pvt) Ltd. was chosen from among four bidders to be given the contract to operate from Muthurajawela with the facility processing 630MT a day of municipal solid waste. The Waste Management Authority of the Western Province will supply 400MT/ day of municipal solid waste and the consortium will have to find the balance 230 MT/day of municipal solid waste on its own. It will use waste incineration technology from South Korea.
Fairway Holdings (Pvt) Ltd., which will use technology from Germany and Denmark, was selected from among three bidders to operate at the Thumbowila, Karadiyana site, to which the WMA-WP will supply 500 MT/day of municipal solid waste. However, the rate at which both companies will sell the electricity they generate from waste it yet to be decided.