Dubai Municipality has prequalified a total of 14 companies to bid for a contract to build a waste-to-energy plant in the emirate.

According to Rashed Karkain, Head of Technical Support & Studies Section in Dubai Municipality’s Waste Management Department, more than 500 companies requested the qualification documents.

Of these firms, 28 submitted applications, and half of which were prequalified by the Municipality.

A request for proposals has been prepared and will be issued to the prequalified companies within the next few weeks.

Once the bids are submitted, they will be assessed against a complex matrix that allows for bids that include only the waste incineration aspect of the project as well as bids that outline proposals for the collection and incineration of the waste.

Contractors will be able to submit proposals to build the project on a build-own-transfer or turnkey basis. French consultant Cabinet Merlin is advising Dubai Municipality in the tender.

The project is to be built at a site in Al-Warsan and will be able to process about 6,500 tonnes a day of waste.

Domestic waste will be sourced from across the emirate for use at the plant. The UAE has one of the highest waste generation rates in the world, averaging two kilogrammes per capita a day.

The emirate of Dubai produces 11,000 tonnes of domestic waste each day, the majority of which is currently dumped in landfill. In 2003 it produced just 4,000 tonnes a day.

Start-up of the project is planned for 2012, but this date may change depending on the chosen technology and contract type.