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Azerbaijan will soon launch Integrated Solid Waste Management Project

29 September 2009 15:36 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Rashad Suleymanov â€“ APA-Economics. Azerbaijan will soon launch the proposed Integrated Solid Waste Management Project co-financed by the Government of Azerbaijan and the World Bank, said Azerbaijanâ€™s Economic Development Minister Shahin Mustafayev told a meeting on the project preparation.

He described the project as an important step towards the improvement of waste management in the country.

Peter Thomson, the World Bankâ€™s Director of the Sustainable Development Department of the Europe and Central Asia Region, spoke about the coverage of the project.

According to him, the five-year project aims to support the reform of the Greater Baku solid waste collection and disposal operations into an effective and sustainable system in the fields of: improving environmental conditions at the existing waste disposal sites; building-up operational, management and communication capabilities; rollout of collection services; and data collection and planning.

Of the total cost of $41.5 million, $29.5 million will come from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and $12 million from the Government of Azerbaijan according to the World Bankâ€™s website.

There are five components to the project. The first component is the institutional reform, capacity building and project management. This component will support: the completion of strategic planning; the legal, financial, and organizational corporatization and establishment; the operationalization; and capacity building of the new joint stock Solid Waste Management Company (SWMC).

The second component is the Balakhani landfill rehabilitation and management.
The investment aims to upgrade operations at the current site, deal with the negative environmental impacts from site operations including the closure of inactive areas. It will finance equipment (weighbridges, bulldozers, etc) and civil works (fencing, waste coverage, drainage control, internal roads, etc.) to control environmental impacts and improve site-use effectiveness while other solid waste management options are developed.

The third component is the closure and management of other dumps. It will finance closure and cleanup of the informal dumps and improve management (or close) formal sites identified in the strategic plan.

The fourth component is the urgent collection equipment for under-served Baku districts. It will help increase service quality and availability throughout the region, including areas that now lack effective collection, by financing urgently needed trucks, containers and bins to improve solid waste collection coverage and service efficiency in the most acutely underserved areas of greater Baku.

Finally, the fifth component is the technical preparation of post-project investments.

The Ministry of Economic Development established a Project Management Team (PMT) within the Ministry responsible for day-to-day project management (including procurement and financial management), liaison with the government, the Bank and other donors, and monitoring of project progress.

In December 2008, the Ministry of Economic Development awarded Franceâ€™s CNÄ°M S.A. a contract to build a solid waste incineration plant in Baku.