The inter-ministerial committee for waste treatment facilities today published prequalification documents for an international public-private partnership (PPP) tender to design, finance, construct, and operate the first waste-to-energy facility in Israel. The joint Ministry of Finance-Ministry of Environmental Protection committee is headed by Deputy Accountant General Nehemia Kind.
The facility will be built in the Good Samaritan recycling park east of Maale Adumim. The facility will be the main facility for treatment of waste in metropolitan Jerusalem and the surrounding area. An innovative waste sorting facility and one of the world's most advanced waste-to-energy facilities will be built on the site. The energy in waste will be used to produce electricity under the most stringent environmental conditions.
The facility, whose operation will begin six years from now, is designed to replace the already approved landfill on the Good Samaritan recycling site, thereby preventing significant environmental hazards. This project will be in cooperation with international companies among the leaders in the waste-to-energy sector at a total projected cost of NIS 1 billion.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Finance say that this will be the first of a number of similar waste-to-energy facilities being promoted by the inter-ministerial committee in order to create an environmentally friendly alternative to burying waste in landfills in Israel. The facilities will be deployed nationwide in the coming years, bringing Israel into line with European countries with advanced and environmentally friendly waste treatment.
These facilities are part of the Ministry of Environmental Protection's strategic plan for 2030, which will reduce the proportion of waste put into landfills in Israel from 80% to 26%.
Minister of Environmental Protection MK Zeev Elkin said, "When I entered my position, I realized that we were lagging behind on waste treatment, and I pushed for a waste treatment strategy aimed at drastically reducing burial of waste in landfills by increasing recycling and building waste-to-energy facilities. I thank the Ministry of Finance for helping to promote this infrastructure project, as it did with national infrastructure projects such as desalination facilities, and I am confident that, within a decade, Israel will be addressing this issue in a completely different way."
Ministry of Environment Protection director general Guy Samet said, "At this stage, issuing the tender signals the beginning of the end of burying waste in Israel. The facility that will be built is one of a series of facilities that will be built all over Israel."
Accountant General Rony Hizkiyahu said, "This facility is part of a number of infrastructure projects that the government is currently promoting as part of the Infrastructures 2030 plan in all areas: transportation, water, and environmental protection."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 10, 2019
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2019