LAHORE: A Norwegian corporation intends to invest $300 million initially for approximately 45 megawatts of power generation using solid waste in Lahore, following German and Thai businesses.

Dawn has learned that the plan calls for the Norwegian company to use up to 2,000 tonnes of new garbage for energy production.

Af ter holding a meeting with a Norwegian company delegation here on Tuesday, Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) Board of Directors Chairman Aatif Chaudhry told Dawn that the city produces about 6,000 tonnes of waste per day, which our company collects and dumps at the Lakhudair landfill site (Mahmood Booti).

`This enormous amount of solid waste can generate 600MW of electricity, and theNorwegian company has requested a provision of up to 2,000MW for power generation beginning at 40 to 45MW per day. On Dec 7, an MoU will be signed in L ahore at the chief minister`s office between the LWMC and the Norwegian company, which is already carrying out a similar waste-to-energy project in Columbia and Ecuador,` Mr Chaudhry said.

He said since the LWMC`s inauguration in 2012, 20 million tonnes of rubbish have been dumped at the Lakhudair landfill.

He said when it comes to waste, fresh waste is typically f avoured. However, it is also feasible to use garbage that is up to five-year old.

In the meeting attended by LWMC Chief Executive Officer Ali Anan Qamar and Norwegian company representatives, the firm explained that first a preliminary survey would be conducted and that initially, 40 to 45 megawatts of electricitywould be generated.

`The 20 million tonnes of waste at the Lakho Der landfill site will be used to generate electricity besides that fresh waste.

The aim of the waste-to-energy project is to provide citizens with a clean environment and modern facilities. Furthermore, a Norwegian company is also working on the project of converting waste to energy in Colombia and Ecuador,` the LWMC chairman said.

The chief minister would be briefed about the project on Wednesday.

The LWMC has also signed an MoU with a German firm that pledged to install a power plant to generate 100MW with 2,000 tonnes of solid waste daily. The city`s wasteto-energy project would not only consume 24 million tonnes of legacy waste, but also the 6,000 tonnes of fresh waste that were collected daily and added to the legacy waste lying at the Lakhudair (MahmoodBooti) landfill site. Such a huge waste, the company says, is not only contaminating the underground water table but also polluting the air, having the worst effects on public health.

According to the project brief under the Alternative & Renewable Energy Policy, 2019, the custodian for any waste-to-energy project in Punjab is the Punjab Power Development Board. The Federal ARE Policy allows the processing of new technologies. In this regard, the LWMC issued a letter of facilitation to the PPDB on Aug 28, 2020, for assurance of 3,000 tonnes/day of municipal solid waste for any waste-to-energy project. The company has allocated 25 acres at the Lakhodair landfill for the waste to the energy plant. To facilitate potential investors, the company is also conducting a chemical characterization study of MSW to determine the calorific value of waste, which will be available by the end of this month.