LAHORE: A waste-to-energy project will initially start generating about 100 megawatt electricity from the solid waste produced in the city after its completion next year.

German company ALBA had in November last agreed to make most of the investment for installation of the 100 megawatt power plant to generate energy from garbage and hospital waste produced in the Punjab capital.

“Work on the project is being executed speedily and the plant will start producing 100MW electricity from next year,” said the Lahore Waste Management Company spokesperson on Monday.

“As rapid progress on the construction of country’s first scientific waste disposal site at Lakhodair is underway, the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) is also considering various other technologies suitable for its Waste-to-Energy project,” he said.

A five-member delegation of US firm ‘Princeton Environ Group’ on Monday briefed LWMC officials about its recycling and gasification technology.

Delegation head and the group’s Chief Executive Officer Mr Peter Tien elaborated that the technology would use solid waste’s recyclable components and convert its combustible parts into Refused Derived Fuel (RDF), an alternative to coal that could be used in cement industry. Even its ash could be used for brick manufacturing, he added.

The US plant would have capacity to process 1,035 tons of waste and generate 550 megawatts daily. The feasibility study would require two to three months, whereas installation and functioning of plant needed at least three years, said the CEO.

Later, the members of the delegation visited LWMC’s under-construction sanitary landfill at Lakhodair and the dumpsite at Mehmood Booti.