Albanian Ministry of Environment has concluded a contract deal with the privately owned company Integrated Technology Waste Treatment Fier to build waste-to-energy (WtE) plant near the city of Fier.

The project worth EUR 27.7 million will be operated by the company which is a subsidiary of Integrated Technology Services and the WtE plant will be transferred to the government under a six-year concession contract, SeeNews reported.

According to the statement provided by Public Procurement Agency earlier this week, Integrated Technology Services was the only bidder for the project.

The construction of the WtE plant is in line with the strategy and management policies of the Ministry of Environment and the project was initiated by the local government of Fier in July 2015. The plant which will process waste with energy recovery will be the second of its kind in the country, the Ministry of Environment stated in the press release.

The primary objective of the project is a better management of integrated urban solid waste (MSW) and transforming it into electricity. It is expected that the plant will process a maximum of 180 up to 200 tons of solid wastes per day which will provide electricity output of 3.8 MW.

The construction and operation of this plant will solve the problem of waste once and for all by processing 70,000 tons per year which is the capacity by the estimated waste generation in Fier County.

The waste-to-energy plant will be built near several villages and their inhabitants protested claiming that the project is a health hazard. Several protests have been organized since the end of October in Mbrostar village where residents claimed that the construction of the plant is a huge mistake as it is less than one kilometer away from the village centre, local media reported.

The company picked to build the WtE plant Integrated Technology Waste Treatment Fier is owned by Integrated Technology Services (70%) and Ndertim Montimi Patos, providing waste transportation services (30%).