An independent engineering and management consulting firm is finalizing the technical feasibility study on a waste recycling project before it is offered as a partnership project to the private sector, Atter Hannoura, the head of the PPP Central Unit at the finance ministry, told Zawya. "The annual volume of garbage in Egypt is estimated at 27 million tons per annum, in addition to 50m tpa of agricultural waste," said Alaa Samaha, the chairman of the Egyptian Company for Environmental Services. Previous studies conducted by the Egyptian environment ministry had reflected that the daily volume of refuse handled in Egypt amounts to 47,000 tons, of which 19,000 tons is generated in Greater Cairo alone. "The waste recycling project is a top priority for Egypt," Hannoura said, noting that the PPP Central Unit has asked for appropriate time to conclude the feasibility study on the 25-year project. Chemonics Egypt Consultants, the consultancy assigned the study, declined to comment. The project will be offered to the private sector before the end of the year, Hannoura said, adding that it will be implemented across all the nation's governorates and offered in a global tender. The project has been under preparation from more than a year. A ministerial committee assigned from the ministries of electricity and environment and the governorates approved proposing waste recycling via the public-private partnership scheme. Waste recycling projects are lucrative ones and yield huge returns on capital, as spending one dollar would return 12 to 15 dollars, Hannoura said. The project cost will vary according to the output of recycling, whether it is plastic or energy. If it is energy, the estimated USD 200 million cost of building the power generation plant would be added to the project, he said. Zawya
