PERTH company AnaeCo has passed a regulatory milestone for construction of an expanded waste treatment facility at Shenton Park, but getting funding for the $35 million project is proving more challenging.
The Department of Environment and Conservation has given environmental works approval for expansion of the facility, which will treat 55,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste per year once the expansion is complete.
The facility produces energy from biogas, agricultural grade compost and recyclables.
The plant expansion will be managed by AnaeCo, which developed the waste treatment technology, and its joint venture partner Monadelphous, which will provide construction services.
AnaeCo managing director Tom Rudas said the granting of the works approval for the stage 2 expansion followed advice from the WA Environmental Protection Authority that the overall environmental impact of the proposal was not so severe as to require formal assessment
“We believe this is largely due to the advanced design features of the DiCOM system and successful operation during stage 1, where the environmental performance of the DiCOM system was subjected to high levels of performance review and significant operating data was gathered,” he said.
Mr Rudas said the company was moving towards planning approval for the project, but noted the funding strategy was being revised.
Finance is being handled by the project’s majority equity owner, Palisade Regional Infrastructure Fund, which has advised AnaeCo that raising bank debt for the project in the current economic climate is proving challenging, and therefore it is evaluating financing the project during construction by applying its own equity resources.
While the approvals and finance processes continue, AnaeCo has been continuing with engineering design and other pre-construction activities.
Engineering design was completed in April 2010, following which all tender drawings and packages were prepared.
AnaeCo and Monadelphous are forecasting commencement of construction in November 2010.
