Hitachi Zosen will construct a garbage-burning power plant in the Manila metropolitan area, the Philippines’ first such facility.
The project carries a price tag of around 40 billion yen ($395 million), including the initial investment and costs for running the facility for two decades. The Japanese plant engineering company will create a special-purpose company to undertake the project.
Generally speaking, waste incineration facilities are needed when a country’s per-capita gross domestic product exceeds $3,000. And construction of such large facilities picks up when per-capita GDP tops $5,000. In the Philippines, where per-capita GDP is nearing $3,000, landfill capacity near Manila is already scarce.
Hitachi Zosen will build the plant in the city of Quezon in greater Manila. The site will combine a garbage incineration facility capable of processing the waste of 3 million residents with a power plant able to pump out more than 20,000kW.
With the plant expected to begin operating in the early 2020s, construction surveys have begun.
Costs are to be recovered through waste-processing fees to be paid by municipalities, and via proceeds from electricity sales.
With income levels of middle-class consumers having risen beyond a certain threshold in Southeast Asia, waste is increasing, both of daily essentials and consumer durables. Garbage processing thus looms as a challenge.
Hitachi Zosen has been actively cultivating promising markets by tapping its homegrown technologies. Other Japanese plant engineering companies are also stepping up operations in the region.
Source: Nikkei Image: Wikimedia Commons
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