Rawalpindi: CDGR to establish Refuse Derived Fuel Plant at Losar

[Naveed Yaseen]

Public-private partnership

* City government will provide land to successful firm for plant, sell municipal solid waste to it, facilitate the firm by long-term concessions in lease of land

By Aamir Yasin

RAWALPINDI: The City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) will establish Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) Plant at Losar under public-private partnership.

Well-placed sources told Daily Times on Sunday that the Punjab government had given green signal to CDGR for entering into private-public partnership for environment-friendly waste treatment and disposal system using RDF technology.

The RDF is used as a supplementary or power generation fuel at cement plants. The cement factories use coal as fuel to run the plant and after availability of RDF the import of coal will be minimized, said the sources. Currently, Fauji Foundation has established a RDF processing plant at its factory at Fateh Jang.

RFQ: The sources said the CDGR had sought Request for Qualification (RFQ) from interested firms and November 2 (today) is last date in this regard. He said so far more than five firms, including one US-based and four Pakistan-based firms had shown their interest.

They said the private firm would establish RDF plant for processing municipal solid waste on Design, Built, Operate and Transfer (DBOT) basis. The CDGR would provide land and sell the municipal solid waste to the firm, they added.

They said the proposed landfill site measuring 75 acres at Losar would be utilised for setting up the plant. He said the private firm would also construct a transfer station near Soan River and it would be responsible for transportation of solid waste from Soan River to Losar.

Concessions: The sources said the CDGR would facilitate the successful private firm by long-term concession in terms of lease of land by CDGR. The RDF plant would be handed over to the CDGR at the end of concession period, they added.

They said the inorganic material would be sold to other parties for its conversion into fertilizer. The plant will be first of its kind in Rawalpindi as earlier Fauji Foundation has established RDF plant at its factory and getting garbage from Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) free of cost, they said.

The sources said presently some 1,200 metric tonnes of garbage was being generated daily in Rawalpindi city alone and the CDGR had the capacity to lift 700 metric tonnes of garbage, while the remaining 500 tonnes of garbage was being dumped into Leh Nullah.

They said open dumping of garbage had a negative bearing on environment and after the installation of RDF plant it would address the problem permanently. The RDF plant would also improve sanitation conditions in the city because when the CDGR got money against the garbage then its workers would collect garbage from every nook and corner of the city, they added.

It may be mentioned that the RDF plant project was planned two years ago and the CDGR short-listed six firms and invited bids but the provincial government stopped it.

The provincial government was of the view that establishment of RDF plant in the city required proper legislation and the provincial government wanted to set the mechanism for the whole province in this regard.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg11_1