Saida to get rid of trash mountain

Private plant to handle municipal solid waste

The plan to remove the seaside landfill in Saida is almost finalized. An agreement for the rehabilitation of the Saida dumpsite was signed on Thursday (October 4) between the Ministry of the Environment and the UNDP. “The project involves cleaning up the mountain of trash and replacing it with a green park,” said Edgar Chehab, programme manager at UNDP.

The UNDP launched an international tender for the project back in February. Three out of nine firms that had applied were shortlisted: One French, another Australian, and a consortium of two Norwegian firms and a Dutch firm. Evaluation of the bids will start on Monday (October 7). The contract is expected to be signed by early 2013.

The project will be implemented under the supervision of the UNDP. Chehab said the project will be financed by the government and a foreign donor: “The project is estimated to cost some $30 million. The State will pay $20 million while the municipality will secure the rest through Saudi Arabia or through Walid bin Talal.”

The current dumpsite receives solid waste from the municipalities of Saida and Zahrani, that have a combined population of some 250,000. The landfill covers an area of 29,000 square meters and is 32 meters high. The firm selected will be responsible for separating waste onsite. Rubble form the dumpsite will be used to reclaim some 550,000 square meters of land from the sea. The project will take two and a half years to complete.

Once rehabilitation of the site starts, all incoming municipal solid waste, around 300 tons per day, will be transported to and processed at a privately owned waste treatment plant near the landfill. The 38,000 square meters facility will be operated by IBC, a local waste contractor. The company established the plant in 2010. “The plant is supposed to start operating on December 1,” Chehab said.

IBC will start operating within the coming few weeks, said Hamzi Moghrabi, the company’s founder and president. Moghrabi said the tipping fee of processing one ton of waste was agreed at $85.

The other step to resolving the landfill issue is the construction of a sea wall around the waterfront side of the dumpsite. This project, estimated to cost $29 million, was contracted to Khoury Contracting Company in September last year. The project was funded through a $20 million grant from Saudi Arabia. The rest was financed by the government. This project is almost completed.