Cost of hazardous waste disposal

With reference to the article (January 27) saying that Enemalta is inconsistent with regard to the cost of hazardous waste exports, Enemalta would like to clarify the following.

During the briefing sessions held with the various environmental groups and NGOs, Enemalta engineers explained in detail the evaluation process, among other topics, and the quoted €12 million was the result of a visual presentation, which calculated the cost of special chemicals to reduce flue gas (reagants), costing €6 million annually, together with the waste disposal cost estimated at about €6 million as well. These calculations were based on the specified tender that used one per cent sulphur fuel oil with a waste disposal cost of €420 per cubic metre. In fact, the actual cost of flyash disposal is lower than that assumed in the tender, namely €235 per cubic metre. Furthermore, the current usage of 0.7 per cent sulphur fuel produces less waste. This results in a waste disposal cost of about €2.5 million as opposed to the €6 million projected by the tender.

It is acknowledged that the use of diesel will result in lower volumes of solid waste for disposal but the cost would then be that of an extra 33 per cent than the cost of using fuel oil and disposing of its waste.

Furthermore, Enemalta would like to clarify that the new plant will cost €165 million with an additional €18 million for a five-year maintenance agreement resulting in a total of €183 million and not €200 million as stated in the article.