Waste wins friends for UK’s RCR

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Chau Dieu Hai Nam, business development manager for the South Korean-backed SK Engineering and Construction Company Ltd’s (SKEC) Hanoi representative office told VIR that SKEC would love to make a joint-venture with ReCycled Refused International Group (RCR), one of the UK’s leaders in energy and waste treatment industries.

SKEC expressed interest in a partnership with RCR following news that the latter would develop a giant urban solid waste treatment project worth around $3.8 billion in Vietnam.

Local firm Technology-Trading and Investment Consultancy Joint Stock Company (Tecin), which is RCR’s representative in Vietnam, several weeks ago told VIR that RCR was preparing this project under the public private partnership (PPP) model, which would include 15 urban solid waste facilities in 15 provinces and cities nationwide.

Tecin’s deputy general director Le Trung Truc said 13 province and city authorities had agreed to give locations to RCR’s 13 facilities in this project. Truc expected that locations for the remaining facilities would be agreed on by June this year.

“SKEC is a big group with billions-of-dollars projects in oil refineries and energy. I think that RCR’s project would be a good one we can cooperate on. We will work with RCR for further details,” Nam of SKEC said.

Japanese-backed Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd was cited by Truc as also coveting cooperation opportunities on this project.

“A Mitsubishi representative phoned me, saying that the company wanted to cooperate with us in waste treatment technology. They wish to sell their technology to us. I think that Mitsubishi’s technology is quite good,” Truc said.

He said Mitsubishi had told him they would physically introduce the technology and related documents to Tecin soon.

Truc said that many foreign enterprises were eyeing investment and cooperation opportunities as part of this project. For example, last month, representatives from a Thai-backed company’s Ho Chi Minh City-based representative office worked with Tecin on possibilities of engaging in this project.

“This company’s technology and financial health are good,” he said, adding that RCR was ready to cooperate with all investors and enterprises on this project.

In November, 2010, RCR trumpeted a plan to implement the massive project, under which 15-20 waste treatment facilities with a total treatment capacity of 15 million tonnes of solid waste per year, would be built in Vietnam.

The facilities, each totalling up to five hectares, would also annually manufacture 3.5 million megawatt hours of power. However, some five years would be needed for all these facilities to operate smoothly.

The facilities would employ 25,000 workers and help localities put a stop to burying 95 per cent of their waste, a practice which caused a great deal of environmental pollution.

The new facilities’ gas discharge and wastewater standards would be far higher than those required by Vietnam.

RCR also wanted to carry out three other PPP projects in Vietnam including a $1.69 billion ethanol manufacturing project, a $2.82 billion project to desalinate sea water with solar energy and a $88.83 million project to destroy and recycle automobile tyres.

Thus, the total investment capital RCR wanted to pour into Vietnam for the four projects would be over $9.2 billion.