The city council began the process to let the long-term waste management contract in July 2008 and it received £68.6 million in PFI funding in April 2008 to help develop large-scale waste treatment infrastructure (see letsrecycle.com story).
And, both of the shortlisted bidders have named energy-from-waste as their proposed waste treatment method.
Veolia ES Aurora intends to develop an incinerator capable of generating energy from 190,000 tonnes of residual waste each year at a site on the former wholesale market on Pontefract Lane in Cross Green, to the southwest of the city.
Meanwhile, Aire Valley Environmental intends to construct a larger plant with a 230,000 tonnes-a-year capacity on part of the site of the existing Knostrop waste water treatment works, also in the industrialised Cross Green area.
When the council announced a four bidder shortlist in May 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story), it said it was “open minded” about which treatment technology would be used, despite using energy-from-waste with a projected capacity of 180,000 tonnes-a-year as its reference technology in its bid for PFI funding.
Utilities firm United Utilities, which had proposed mechanical biological treatment and gasification in its proposal, missed out on the final shorlist. German energy-from-waste specialist MVV Umwelt, which had also been named in the final four bidders, had previously withdrawn from the race of its own accord.
Councillor James Monaghan, executive board member with responsibility for environmental services, said: “We are now at an important stage of the process to build this new waste treatment facility. Narrowing down the shortlist to the final two bidders is significant, because we know what type of technology will be used and two possible sites.”
Consult
Cllr Monaghan said that the next stage would be to inform residents in the areas around the two proposed locations about the facilities.
He said: “Now, we need to continue to explain both proposals to local residents and businesses so they understand what is going on and what will happen next. The importance of the facility to assist us, along with recycling, deal with the rubbish we produce every day, can't be underestimated.”
Leeds city council, which is giving an update on the project to its Board members a week today (February 12), intends to confirm a successful bidder for the PFI deal in early 2011, with a site potentially being operational by 2014.
As well as being updated on the long-term waste management plans, the Board is expected to be asked to vote on recommendations to drop plans for a dedicated waste transfer station at Evanston Avenue in Kirkstall. After receiving more details on the cost of the development council officers have recommended that the plan is not “value-for-money”.
Register for free to comment