HCM CITY — HCM City has invited local and foreign companies to bid on waste treatment plants that are expected to reduce pollution and contribute to a greener and more beautiful urban area.

The city discharges 8,000 tonnes to 8,500 tonnes of household waste per day, not including industrial and construction solid waste, according to the HCM City Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

For the long term, waste incineration technology is the best waste treatment method as it adds a source of electric power and reduces pollution.

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

Bidders are required to submit documents on machinery and equipment, and to ensure that the plant will operate normally during maintenance, repairs or technical incidents.

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

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

A number of local bidders said they could not meet the criteria set by the city authority.

Huỳnh Minh Nhựt, CEO of the HCM City Urban Environment Company Ltd, said the city had set high standards that some bidders could not reach.

Nhựt said that only foreign companies and a number of foreign-invested firms could meet the criteria.

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

Representatives of a number of bidders said that the price of US$17 to $21 for a tonne of unsorted waste was too low, and could pose problems to investors or developers of the project.

Challenges

Nguyễn Thị Thạnh Mỹ, deputy director of the city’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said that the “high-standard criteria” set by the city agencies would prompt others to reform their businesses.

The Southern Focal Economic Zone and HCM City, for example, have developed their industrial, trade and service sectors very well in recent years, offering many new jobs and contributing to improved living standards, Mỹ said.

Mỹ said the open bidding for the plants was necessary to attract professional companies with experience and financial capability.

Still, the city’s agencies should create favourable conditions for local enterprises to join the bidding process to help them build competitiveness, she added.

The volume of industrial solid waste, hazardous waste and household waste is on the rise, but thermal waste treatment methods have posed challenges.

Waste-to-energy technology is one of the best measures for treatment of industrial waste, hazardous waste, healthcare waste and parts of biological waste, experts have said. — VNS