GOVERNMENT’S "3RS" FOR MAGHTAB: Redundant, Researched and Rehabilitated

Following the publication of the Solid Waste Management Strategy for the Maltese Islands earlier this month, Government will be entering into negotiations with three consortia that have been short-listed by an independent Adjudication Board as the most capable to implement two out of three components with regard to the implementation of the same strategy.

The report of the Adjudication Board to Government follows an appraisal of the various proposals received and that was made by the same consultants who drew up the Integrated Solid Waste Management Strategy for the Maltese Islands which has now been finalised. The Consultants appointed by the Ministry for the Environment for this purpose were Integrated Skills Ltd since this was the company that through Carl Bro of Denmark had been engaged by the European Commission to draw up the necessary Strategy for Malta.

In line with the appraisal made by the Consultants and the subsequent recommendation of the adjudication board, the implementation of waste management will be divided into three separate packages:

• (1) a contract for the reception, management, processing, recovery and disposal of construction and demolition (C&D) – this component represents 80% of all our waste streams;
• (2) a contract for the reception, management, processing, recovery and disposal of all other types of waste, including hazardous waste and sewage sludge;
• (3) a contract for the remediation, landscaping and after-care of the existing landfill sites – in particular: Maghtab, Qortin (Gozo) and Wied Fulija.

Following the recommendation of the Adjudication Board, Government is in a position to commence negotiations with the three consortia (out of eight) that have been short-listed. Negotiations will commence with regard to the first two packages described above. Consortia have been appraised by the Consultants on the basis of the quality and clarity of their presentation; experience and track record of proposer in waste management; qualifications and experience of proposer and of his personnel, as well as the conformity of proposers with key technical requirements to enter into waste management contracts of this nature.

On the basis of a ranking of consortia with regard to the above criteria by the consultants, which ranking was confirmed by the Adjudication Board, the three short-listed consortia at this stage are:

1. Onyx-CGEA (France) / AX Holdings (Malta);
2. Staedtereinigung West Nolting GmbH & Co. KG (Germany) / Polidano Brothers Ltd. (Malta);
3. SITA (France).

The short-listed consortia include in each case international providers of waste management services of repute. Separate negotiations with each of the three short-listed consortia will commence on Friday, 2^nd. November 2001.

Following the negotiation process, the Adjudication Board will be invited to submit to Government its final recommendation on which of the consortia can carry out the contract packages with respect of handling construction and demolition waste, and with respect of handling all other waste. The same or a different consortium can be chosen in respect of these two packages.

With regard to the third package which deals with the rehabilitation of existing landfills at Maghtab, Qortin and Wied Fulija, Government has been advised by the consultants that before a final decision on the best form of rehabilitation can be taken, a precise scientific profile of these landfills is required. In this respect, the Ministry for the Environment has requested the consultants to draw up terms of reference for a tender or selective quotation process to identify an independent international company that specialises in such issues to carry out this profile. Once that profile is submitted, Government can then proceed to select from among all the companies that submitted proposals regarding waste management on this specific issue or if necessary make a fresh call for proposals that are limited to this package.

The Ministry for the Environment observes that through this approach, waste management in Malta will be following the logical sequence of implementation through which one cannot begin to rehabilitate Maghtab, Qortin or other landfills before their actual closure targeted for 2004. In this respect, the Ministry is setting its own 3Rs for Maghtab: that it to render it Redundant through its closure by proceeding with the first two waste management packages; to have it Researched through a scientific profile that is carried out independently of all companies that submitted proposals; and to have it Rehabilitated following the profile exercise.

The implementation of the waste management strategy is Government’s most important environmental challenge which it is facing with courage and determination, not least by setting itself strict time frames within which to carry out this challenge in line with the recently published Strategy.