Sri Lanka to kick off solid waste plants with USD193 mln investment

Aug 10, 2017 (LBO) - Sri Lanka will see two solid waste-to-energy power plants starting construction as two public-private partnership (PPP) projects in Muthurajawela. The total invest for the project will be around 193 million dollars, the Ministry of Megapolis and Western Province Development said.

The two plants will add 20 Mega Watts of electricity to the national grid once commissioned and will convert waste generated in Colombo and Gampaha into energy. The first project will see 700 Metric Tons of waste generated from the Colombo Municipal Council daily being processed through an incineration plant run by the Western Power Company, a fully-owned subsidiary of Aitken Spence Plc. The investment for the project will be 98 million dollars and will add 10 MW to the national grid. The second, also a PPP with a Korean company called K.C.H.T Jang, will invest US 95 million dollars to set up a plant to process up to 630 MT of unsorted waste generated from the suburbs of the Colombo and Gampaha districts.

This plant will add another 10 MW to the grid. A third project, with an investment of US 91 million dollars is also due to commence later this month. All three plants are to be completed within a two-year period, the ministry said. Another PPP agreement has been signed with Fairway Holdings for a waste treatment plant in Karadiyana, where 500 MT of waste will be processed into energy. According to available data the Western Province alone produces around 60 percent of the nation’s waste, with 3,400 metric tons produced per day. About 86 percent of waste is dumped in the open with only about 6 percent of this made into compost and about 4 percent of it recycled.