Metro Pacific Investments Corp. said it is confident of securing next month the approval of the local government on a proposed P15-billion, waste-to-energy project in Payatas, Quezon City.
Metro Pacific president Jose Lim in an earlier interview the company obtained Quezon City’s initial nod on the unsolicited proposal. Metro Pacific in September last year submitted the plan to the Quezon City government for approval.
Metro Pacific plans to build the project with a capacity to handle 3,000 tons a day of solid waste and produce 30 to 40 megawatts of power.
Metro Pacific earlier tapped US-based Covanta, a world leader in providing sustainable waste and energy solutions and Macquarie as technical partners for the venture.
The project being an unsolicited proposal will be subject to a Swiss Challenge, in which third parties can submit competing offers. The original proponent has the right to match the other offers.
Metro Pacific said the project once successful could be a template for other local government units to address their solid waste and garbage problems.
This is not the first time MPIC has proposed to build a waste-to-energy facility.
The conglomerate in 2014 signed an investment agreement with GGI Energy Pte. Ltd. to pursue a similar facility in Davao del Norte that will be able to produce 2 MW of power and 10,000 liters of biodiesel per day, with an option to expand it to 6 MW. The agreement, however, fell through.
Metro Pacific is pursuing waste-to-energy projects in the country to address issues on solid waste management and increased demand for electricity.
The infrastructure conglomerate earlier said it was looking at creating a portfolio of waste-to-energy facilities with a generating capacity of 300 MW in the coming years.
Metro Pacific has investments in hospitals, power generation, tollroads, logistics and water utility.
The New Jersey-based Covanta has over 50 waste-to-energy facilities around the world, handling approximately 20 million tons of wastes, enough to produce renewable energy to power one million homes.