Five international consortia bid for removal of landfill emissions

Five international consortia are in the running for an €8.4 million contract to remove emissions from the waste landfills.

Six offers had been submitted in a call for tenders by WasteServ Malta but one was rejected because it did not satisfy the necessary tender specifications.

WasteServ's strategy and development executive Christopher Ciantar said the tender, which includes installing a system of steel shafts to remove gases forming inside the Maghtab, Qortin and Wied Fulija landfills (and for the eventual treatment and reuse of such gases), will be awarded to one of five bidders - Edifesa/Tegner/Process (the Mizzi Group), World Waste Solution Malta, Codra/Biotecnogas, Strabag/Polidano or Haase/Vassallo J.V.

The winning bidder should be known by September.

"The contractor will be bound to complete the work by the end of 2007, keeping to the time-frame that will make Malta eligible for EU structural funds," Dr Ciantar said. The tender provides for two interventions highlighted in the Scott Wilson report, an environment experts' report which the government had commissioned to find the best ways in which to rehabilitate the Maghtab, Qortin and Wied Fulija landfills.

Scott Wilson had said that before any work started, the waste mass needed reshaping to avoid subsiding, especially in the case of Wied Fulija where the waste could fall into the sea.

The installation of steel shafts to recover and treat the gases would be the second step to rehabilitate the landfills. The third intervention would entail covering the landfill with compost sludge and globigerina limestone before indigenous species are planted.

While sections of the landfills will be rehabilitated before others, Scott Wilson had said it would take around 20 years for the whole landfill area to be completely rehabilitated.

Environment Minister George Pullicino said the awarding of the tender was a very important step to rehabilitate the landfills.

"These works would not have been possible if we were not members of the European Union," Mr Pullicino said, adding he was looking forward to see the work started.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi will next week visit Ta' Zwejra engineered landfill, opened at the foot of Maghtab upon Malta's accession to the EU when Maghtab was closed.

Mr Pullicino said a pilot project to cap and landscape a portion of Ta' Zwejra was under way to show how the landfills would be rehabilitated to meet "the highest environmental standards".