SHAH ALAM: Worldwide Holdings Bhd, which is wholly owned by the Selangor state government, plans to spend RM1 billion to develop a solid waste disposal and treatment system using waste-to-energy (WTE) technology that is targeted for completion in year 2024.

It is partnering with Shenzhen-listed China Western Power Industrial Co to work on the project, which will begin with a RM500 million WTE facility in Jeram, Selangor, which is slated to be the biggest incinerator in Malaysia. The plant will be developed in two phases.

It signed a joint development agrement with China Western Power’s unit, Western Power Clean Energy Sdn Bhd, to effect the partnership today.

“We are honoured to be given the trust by the state government to lead the way in WTE development for Selangor. The first phase of our WTE plant at Jeram will be ready for commercial operation by 2020, while completion of the second phase is targeted by 2024,” Worldwide Holdings chief executive officer Datin Paduka Norazlina Zakaria said during her speech at the signing ceremony. 

Funding to develop the plant will be fully borne by Worldwide Holdings, while the state government has provided an allocation of RM40 million for land acquisition. 

Norazlina said 20% of the project cost will be raised through equity, and the other 80% through financial institutions. "We may issue green sukuk for this purpose," she added. 

The plant will burn solid waste as feedstock to heat up its furnace and create steam that propels the turbine to generate electricity, the company said. “The WTE plant addresses all aspects of environmental issues through modern and high-tech treatment facilities in strict compliance with the EU standards. The technology we are adopting has proven track record, using similar waste characteristics in Malaysia,” she said. 

Apart from the plant, Worldwide plans to build an Integrated Solid Waste Management Center (ISWMC) -- comprising a Material Recovery Facility for Construction and Demolition Waste, Anaerobic Digester, Research and Development Centre and Composting Plant -- on a 200-acre land adjacent to the company’s current Jeram Sanitary Landfill. 

Norazlina said Western Power Clean Energy was chosen as Worldwide’s partner based on its proven capability in developing WTE plants in China and around the world. 

Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari, who was present to witness the signing ceremony, said the first phase of the facility will produce between 20-25 megawatt of green energy, from about 1,200 tonnes of waste capacity per day, enough to power 25,000 household within the vicinity of the plant. 

“The plant is expected to reduce land use for landfill while supporting the [federal] government’s aspiration of increasing renewable energy generation to 20% by year 2025,” he said.