Fairway and KCHT Lanka get tariff rates for solid waste project

Colombo’s garbage problems have a chance of getting cleaned up after a Cabinet nod was given this week to pay Rs. 36.20/kWh as a flat tariff rate for 20 years to Fairway Holdings and KCHT Lanka Jang for municipal solid waste processing facilities. 

The solid waste processing factories are to be set up in Thumbowila, Karadiyana and Muthurajawela. In January contracts for municipal solid waste processing in the districts of Colombo and Gampaha and production of electricity under private-public partnerships (PPPs) with the Waste Management Authority of the Western Province were awarded to Fairway and KCHT Lankan Jang. 

Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development officials have announced that Fairway Holdings Ltd. will establish a facility in Thumbowila in Karadiyana and KCHT Lanka Jang Ltd, which will operate from a Muthurajawela location, will be responsible for carrying out the waste-to-energy projects via the foreign incineration technology. 

The sites, both having a 10-acre area, are common disposal locations for local authorities in the Western Province, which have been selected by the Waste Management Authority, Western Province (WMA-WP) for managing municipal solid waste that the Colombo and Gampaha districts create.

Following discussions between the Ceylon Electricity Board, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), Urban Development Authority (UDA), members of the Technical Evaluation Committee and representatives of the two companies, the Feed-in Tariff rate of Rs. 36.20/kWh was decided. It was later formally approved by the PUCSL and presented to Cabinet this week by Megapolis and Western Development Minister Champika Ranawaka.   

It is anticipated that Fairway Holdings in Thumbowila will be handling at least 500 metric tonnes of municipal solid waste per day, while Karadiyana and KCHT Lanka Jang Ltd. in Muthurajawela are likely to manage at least 400 metric tonnes of municipal solid waste per day.

With stakes in both consortia, the WMA-WP will have to provide most of the municipal solid waste, according to the officials.

KCHT Lanka Jang Ltd, which has been selected from four bidders, will receive the contract to operate from the Muthurajawela site and the facility’s daily processing capacity will be 630 MT of municipal solid waste.

While the Waste Management Authority of the Western Province will deliver 400 MT/day of municipal solid waste, the consortium itself will be responsible for managing the remaining 230 MT/day of municipal solid waste. It will deploy South Korean waste incineration technology.

The tender for operating the Karadiyana site of Thumbowila was awarded to Fairway Holdings amid three bidders. Fairway Holdings will deploy German and Danish technology to operate the Thumbowila site, which will receive 500 MT/day of municipal solid waste from the WMA-WP. (UJ)