Project Transform names eight bidders for PFI deal
The Project Transform partnership of three West Midlands councils yesterday (January 12) unveiled an eight-bidder shortlist for a PFI-funded l waste treatment deal which is set to see a 305,000 tonnes-a-year capacity incinerator developed in the region.
The shortlist announced by the three councils - Solihull metropolitan borough council, Warwickshire county council and Coventry city council - features a large number of companies which focus on energy-from-waste.
The existing Coventry energy-from-waste plant will be replaced with a larger plant under the Project Transform plans. The partnership received £129 million in PFI funding in June 2009 as part of its plan replace the existing 240,000 tonnes-a-year capacity Coventry energy-from-waste facility with a larger plant by 2016.
After being advertised in September 2009 Project Transform received 13 applications from companies and consortiums at the Pre-Qualification Stage, which has now been cut to eight.
The shortlist of bidders for the 25-year contract consists of:
- Birmingham-based waste management firm Biffa
- A consortium of American energy-from-waste specialists Wheelabrator Technologies and London-based waste management firm Cory Environmental
- German energy-from-waste firm MVV Umwelt
- American energy-from-waste specialist Covanta Energy
- Waste management company Veolia ES Aurora
- A consortium of energy company E.On Energy from Waste AG with Irish-owned Greenstar UK
- Spanish waste management firm Urbaser SA in partnership with engineering and construction firm Balfour Beatty
- Northamptonshire-based Waste Recycling Group and cement giant Cemex
Chairman of the member advisory panel for Project Transform, councillor Kate Wild said: "This is an important step forward in the process of obtaining the best long-term solution for treating our residual waste. We are confident the bidders selected will offer sustainable solutions and we look forward to seeing their proposals."
The next stage of the process will see the bidders go through the Outline Solutions Stage, where they will further develop their proposals. The shortlist will then be narrowed over the summer.
Director of Project Transform, John Daly said: "All solutions submitted by the bidders will be assessed using the evaluation criteria approved by councils comprising the Project Transform partnership in December 2009. All proposals offering a financial and environmentally sustainable solution will be considered."
The Project Transform proposals had come under fire ahead of receiving PFI funding, with opposition groups voicing concerns about the waste projections used by the partnership as the basis of building a new energy-from-waste plant.