The 25-year contract, backed by almost 30 million of Private Finance Initiative credits from the government, was scheduled to begin in March next year. The shortlist for the contract is down to two companies – SITA UK and Focsa UK – and a decision had been expected in the autumn.
” We were expecting to make a decision early autumn, but it is likely to be later in the year now. “
– Paul Martin, Cornwall CC
However, following the county's local government election last month, new councillors have joined the council and are now demanding time to look over the details of the contract, which is thought to be worth about 500 million over its full term.
Paul Martin, Cornwall's waste management officer for procurement, said: “The councillors only came in on 5 May so they didn't have a great deal of information about our plans when we met on 14 June.
“We were expecting to make a decision early autumn, but it is likely to be later in the year now. We want to take some of the councillors around to see waste facilities in the UK or even in Europe,” he explained.
Proposals
Mr Martin added that the councillors had voted to support the PFI deal, but wanted more information on the proposals from Focsa and SITA UK.
Both companies are proposing an incinerator, earmarked for mid-Cornwall at an as-yet undecided site. This would be built, subject to planning, by about 2011 and would take some of the county's 310,000 tonnes of waste.
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Mr Martin insisted that both Focsa and contractor SITA UK are still very much in the running for the contract. “We are having regular meetings with both,” he said.
Cornwall aims to achieve a 50% recycling and composting target by 2008 and to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill by 50% by 2013 as part of a new integrated waste management strategy.
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