Incinerator will adopt proven, cost-effective technology on island
I wish to correct misunderstandings in the letter by Tom Yam, the Lai See piece by Howard Winn and Louise Preston's letter.
On the siting of the integrated waste management facility Yam raised, we considered it important to achieve a more balanced distribution of waste facilities and more efficient interface with the refuse transfer network, hence the choice of an artificial island site near Shek Kwu Chau.
The waste management facility near Shek Kwu Chau has been approved under various ordinances. Going for another site now will not be quicker as it will take considerable time to get the necessary approvals.
Also, Tsang Tsui is already the site for the sludge treatment facility recently built with a maximum capacity for incinerating 2,000 tonnes of sludge per day.
Regarding the contractual model, Yam may be unaware that the design-build-operate model is a well-proven and cost-effective contractual model used in Hong Kong for all major waste facilities over the past 20 years. There is no reason to believe that this model would not work for the waste-to-energy plant.
Moreover, he wrongly used the money-of-the-day figure when calculating the unit capital cost of Hong Kong's plant.