Press release - 06 Oct 2010
SITA UK, subsidiary of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, and Suffolk County Council sign £1 billion PFI contract
SITA UK, subsidiary of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, and Suffolk County Council have signed a 25-year Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract to manage residual household waste in the region. The signing of the contract comes just over four months since it was announced that SITA UK had been selected as the preferred bidder.
The total contract is worth £1 billion (total revenues from Suffolk County Council, third party waste and sale of electricity) over 25 years to design, build, finance and operate an energy-from-waste facility with a capacity of up to 269,000 tonnes per year. Suffolk County Council estimates that the contract will deliver significant savings for council tax payers by avoiding £350 million of additional expenditure over 25 years. The new facility will also generate sufficient electricity to power over 30,000 homes and will save the equivalent of 75,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.
Jean-Louis Chaussade, CEO of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, said: "We are delighted to sign this important contract with Suffolk County Council just over four months since we were appointed preferred bidder. SITA UK’s approach to procurement means that we deliver on our commitments, which is why we have been able to reach financial close on this contract so quickly.
“Since being appointed preferred bidder, we have also carried out extensive community consultation over our plans to develop the energy-from-waste facility and we are on course to submit a planning application in December 2010. We have worked with leading international architect, Grimshaw, who have produced a unique design for the facility to ensure it fits well into its surroundings.
“Working together with Suffolk County Council, we are delighted to have achieved so much in such a short space of time. We look forward to helping the Council with its ambition to be the greenest county.”
Lisa Chambers, portfolio holder for waste at Suffolk County Council, said: “We are committed to recycling and composting as much waste as possible, but needed to find the best possible solution for dealing with the waste which is left over. The signing of this contract takes us one step closer to that solution and represents tremendous value for money for Suffolk, which in the current economic climate is very good news.”
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT will provide around £185 million investment to build the energy-from-waste facility in Great Blakenham, near Ipswich, which is located in the East of England, on a site provided by Suffolk County Council. If planning permission is secured in 2011, the facility should be operating by late 2014.
In September 2010, SITA UK was also appointed preferred bidder by the South Tyne and Wear Waste Management Partnership for a 25-year PFI contract to manage residual waste from the local authority areas of Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland.
SITA UK has also developed a number of Public Private Partnership (PPP) contracts in the regions of Surrey, South Gloucestershire, Kirklees, Cornwall, Northumberland, Aberdeen, the Isle of Man and Teesside. In the waste sector, this type of partnership was developed to allow British local authorities to develop additional waste management facilities other than landfill.
