SITA named preferred bidder for Suffolk PFI

We have worked hard over the past two years to develop a competitive proposal and we look forward to working with Suffolk over the coming months

 
David Palmer-Jones, chief executive officer, SITA UK

The announcement comes in the wake of the council cutting its shortlist of bidders to two in July, with Veolia Environmental Services (ES) Aurora being the other waste management company in contention for the 25-year contract (see letsrecycle.com story).

Despite naming SITA as preferred bidder, the council said that the bid from Veolia ES Aurora “remained open to acceptance” and a full award of the contract was expected in September.

Councillor Lisa Chambers, portfolio holder for waste at Suffolk county council, said: “We have two very good proposals in front of us. Both offer excellent energy-from-waste solutions at Great Blakenham for the treatment of Suffolk's left over waste.

“We have selected SITA UK as the preferred bidder to progress to the next stage. Reaching this milestone brings the county ever closer to delivering a good solution for the council tax payer and will also contribute towards making Suffolk the greenest county.”

David Palmer-Jones, chief executive officer at SITA UK, said: “We are delighted that Suffolk County Council has selected SITA UK as preferred bidder. We have worked hard over the past two years to develop a competitive proposal and we look forward to working with Suffolk over the coming months to confirm our commitments so that the contract award can be achieved by September.”

EfW

SITA's plans centre around developing a 269,000 tonnes-a-year capacity, energy-from-waste facility at the Great Blakenham site near Ipswich. The council is hopeful of having the facility operational by the end of 2014.

Veolia's proposal was also to develop at large-scale energy-from-waste facility at the Great Blakenham site.

Mr Palmer-Jones said: “As we develop our planning application for the EfW facility at Great Blakenham, we will consult widely with all stakeholders and members of the community.

“We are keen to develop partnerships with community and social enterprise organisations and we will also develop new education initiatives to encourage Suffolk's residents to manage their waste more sustainably.”

Capital costs of the project are expected to be around £200 million and Suez Environnement – the French parent company of SITA – has said it would look to invest £180 million towards its development.

Suez said that it actually valued the contract at around £1 billion, once it had taken into account revenues from Suffolk county council, third party waste and the sale of electricity generated by the plant.

The contract will be supported by the £102 million in Private Finance Initiative (PFI) credits awarded to Suffolk county council by Defra in April 2008 (see letsrecycle.com story).

Initially 13 bidders came forward for the contract, which was reduced to a four-bidder shortlist in October 2008 of SITA, Veolia ES Aurora, Waste Recycling Group and a consortium of Shanks Group and energy-from-waste specialists Wheelabrator (see letsrecycle.com story).