HCM City (VNS/VNA) – Ho Chi Minh Cityhas invited local and foreign companies to bid on a waste treatment plants thatis expected to reduce pollution and contribute to a greener and more beautifulurban area.

The city discharges 8,000 tonnes to 8,500 tonnesof household waste per day, not including industrial and construction solidwaste, according to the municipal Department of Natural Resources andEnvironment.

For the long term, waste incineration technologyis the best waste treatment method as it adds a source of electric power andreduces pollution.

The city’s Department of Natural Resources andEnvironment, in announcing the basic criteria for bidders of the city’s wastetreatment project, said the plant that would be able to treat 1,000 tonnes ofunsorted waste per day, with treatment cost of under 21 USD per tonne.

Bidders are required to submit documents onmachinery and equipment, and to ensure that the plant will operate normallyduring maintenance, repairs or technical incidents.

The city will give priority to bidders withexperience in operation of waste-to-energy plants that treat more than 1,000tonnes of waste per day.

Most local companies do not meet therequirements set by the city, such as capital investment, machinery andequipment, and waste treatment costs for a tonne of waste.

A number of local bidders said they could notmeet the criteria set by the city authority.

Huynh Minh Nhut, CEO of the HCM City UrbanEnvironment Company Ltd, said the city had set high standards that somebidders could not reach.

Nhut said that only foreign companies and anumber of foreign-invested firms could meet the criteria.

However, the HCM City Urban EnvironmentCompany Ltd plans to attend the bidding. 

Representatives of a number of bidders said thatthe price of 17 USD to 21 USD for a tonne of unsorted waste was too low, andcould pose problems to investors or developers of the project.

Nguyen Thi Thanh My, Deputy Director of the municipalDepartment of Natural Resources and Environment, said that the“high-standard criteria” set by the city agencies would prompt others to reformtheir businesses.

The Southern Focal Economic Zone and HCM City,for example, have developed their industrial, trade and service sectors verywell in recent years, offering many new jobs and contributing to improvedliving standards, My said.

My said the open bidding for the plant wasnecessary to attract professional companies with experience and financialcapability.

Still, the city’s agencies should createfavourable conditions for local enterprises to join the bidding process to helpthem build competitiveness, she added.

The volume of industrial solid waste, hazardouswaste and household waste is on the rise, but thermal waste treatment methodshave posed challenges.

Waste-to-energy technology is one of the bestmeasures for treatment of industrial waste, hazardous waste, healthcare wasteand parts of biological waste, experts have said.-VNS/VNA